


A (Small) Grudge

by truc



Series: Obsession [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Justice League - All Media Types, Superman (Comics), Superman - All Media Types, Superman/Batman (Comics)
Genre: Bad Communication, Blackmail, Boundaries, Character Development, Curious Lex Luthor, Enemies, F/M, Gen, Happy Oliver Queen, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Moody Bruce Wayne, Paranoia, Plot Intensive, Poor Oliver, Saving the World, Secrets, Thank God there is no Kryptonite!, anger management issues, conflicts, friendships, time travelling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2018-12-21 23:05:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 40,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11954580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/truc/pseuds/truc
Summary: In the present times, Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor are at war with one another (though the public is unaware of it) because of what happened in the Vicky Vale's Exclusive's storyline (see previous part of the series).A crisis in Gotham sends Green Lantern, J'onn J'onzz and Superman back in the past to stop the destruction of Earth. They unfortunately have to deal with a too joyous young adult Oliver Queen, a moody, enraged and out of control teenager Bruce Wayne and an overly curious young adult Lex Luthor.Green Lantern is happy he might get some blackmail material on Batman. Superman has an harder time dealing with both his best friend and his worst enemy than in the present (which is, in itself, quite an achievement). His only good news is neither of them have Kryptonite yet. J'onn J'onzz wishes everyone, especially himself, will forget about the trip to the past.The superheroes also have to deal with a depressive villain. This should be easy...





	1. Prologue

Lex Luthor was looking out of his office window from where he dominated Metropolis. He was exhilarated. He was starting a game with an old friend-enemy.

Mercy frowned at his excitement. He normally only got this excited with things to do with Superman. To her knowledge, he wasn't planning anything concerning Superman. 

"Mercy", He called, "Implant Plan 'Theater'".

"Fine", she answered. He turned to see her observe him quietly. His lips curled upwards in a smirk, "You don't know why I am excited".

"No, I don't. Normally, only things related to Superman can make you this happy".

His smirk became even more pronounced, "What makes you think this isn't related?"

Mercy observed him walk around his desk, "It might be related, but that is not all. I don't understand the other part".

"Mercy, have you ever hunted a wolf?"

"No", she answered succinctly.

"For the past years, I have made my goal of destroying Superman, but that does not mean he was my only obsession", Lex continued, looking at her attentively, "Before Superman and Clark Kent had my attention, Bruce Wayne had it". Mercy seemed surprise at the statement.

"It is true. Bruce Wayne was a fascinating man back then and he still is. He is the beast. Sometimes, it is tiring to always hunt down a God."

"Are you saying you are replacing your Superman obsession with a Bruce Wayne one because it is easier?", Mercy asked baffled.

"No. You are not listening Mercy. Hunting a beast is a very different activity than hunting a God. A God either strikes you down with his judgment or ignores you. A cornered beast on the other hand will fight you savagely. Until Superman's morality breaks, he will not strike me. Bruce Wayne will try to hurt me. It is time I face a foe willing to hurt me. It makes things... different. My strategies will have to be adapted". Mercy thought his statement over, "Shouldn't it be easier, dealing with Bruce Wayne than with Superman?"

Lex looked disappointed and a bit annoyed at Mercy's continued ignorance, "Mercy, imagine Joker got bored with always dealing with Batman and decides to try another superhero. He could try his refined techniques against someone unused to them at all, like Superman. Where Batman vaccinated himself against Joker's tactics, Superman would have difficulty opposing them without any background on it. In my case, I am testing tactics that cannot be used against Superman against Bruce Wayne. It is a good way to measure out about my progress with the bonus of angering Superman."

"If this is only a game, what is your endgame, as you're so proud to say? Bruce Wayne's death?", Mercy asked still perplexed at Lex's behavior.

"Mercy, there are so many good endgame to this war, but I fail to see what would be the point of Bruce Wayne's death", Lex went over to pick up a glass of water on the other side of his desk.

"Then, what would you consider a win?"

"Among other things? Superman's intervention... Bruce Wayne's rejection of everyone... There are so many good endings".

"So you have already determined how you can win this game?", Mercy pursued. Lex Luthor turn his back on her to observe the city, his hands clasping behind him, "Bruce Wayne's major weakness is his fear of loss, especially loss of his relationships. Relationships has always been Bruce's Archilles' heel. I will simply push him toward his normal self-destructive habits".

"Is that affection in your voice?", Mercy asked jokingly. Lex did not respond for a while, "Most people do not have some hate for Superman and some love for Bruce Wayne. But then again, I am not most people".

Mercy was surprised Lex let her know he loved Bruce Wayne. Lex had love for his sister Lena and for himself. That had been the extent of it to her knowledge before now. "So you love Bruce Wayne and hate Superman?".

Mercy could hear Lex's smirk in his reply, "It is never that simple with me, Mercy". That was true, she thought.

"Besides", he continued after a pause, "Superman does not understand why anyone would hate him and Bruce does not understand why anyone would love him. Neither of them knows how to react in that situation. In a way, it is the best way to keep them off balance".

Mercy was uncertain what to make of the statement. Was it Lex's rationalization or just another facet of his personality? Was he lying to her again or messing with her head? Who knew with the man...

"We should probably go, if you intend to arrive in time for the gala in Gotham tonight", Mercy finally said.

"We should. We wouldn't want to miss the first skirmish, would we?", Lex answered softly without moving from his position.


	2. Preparation for Battle

"Alfred, you know the protocol", Bruce said in his cellphone. 

"I do, Sir.", The old man responded on the line. Bruce shut down his cellphone to move up the steps to ring the door. He waited patiently until a lovely woman dressed in the same green as her striking eyes appears at the door, eyeing down. "Not your best suit, Bruce, but it would do for tonight", she said with a seductive smile. 

"Selina".

"Yes, Brucie, dear?"

He twitched at the name. He sighed and gave her his arm as a gentlemen would, "Are you sure you want to do this, Selina? It is going to be brutal."

She picked up delicately his offered hand and makes him twirl her around, "What? Having fun with you? It is always brutal", she said smirking. 

"Selina"

"No, seriously Brucie, I don't know how partying can be a chore for you. I work and still manage to enjoy myself." Both of them heard the unspoken "enjoy myself by stealing from those rich idiots". 

"You, on the other hand", she caressed his cheek with an hand, "need to have fun having fun". 

Her beau might have played a bit more along normally, but tonight, he was rigid, more rigid than normal. She thought she knew what it meant. Her arm circled around him and she whispered, "Don't worry. I'll be there to make sure things don't go out of control". His shoulders relaxed the tiniest bit. She led him to the car after closing and locking her door. She waited until the glass separating the passengers and the driver was up to speak more : "So, I do know some of your moves, but do you have a plan to bring Lex down?"

"It will be difficult."

"So, you don't have a plan?", she pushed.

"I do", he answered soberly.

"What are Lex's weaknesses?", Selina said leaning on him.

"His biggest weakness is his fear of loss of control and power. Remove his control and power and he should crumble", Bruce recited to her.

Selina said touching him gently, "Now relax, this is not a showdown, it is the opening scene of a play. Tragedy or comedy?"

He opened his mouth and she interrupted him before he can speak: "Comedy it is."

"Selina, why ask for my opinion if you don't want to hear it?"

Selina pouted at the statement: "Because I know what you would choose and I deny you that choice". He sighed again. Selina pushed him more than anyone he knew, but, for a reason or another, she always knew when to stop pushing him for answers. He probably acted weirder around her tonight than usual since she only put her head on his shoulder and leaned, hands entwined, silently against him until the car arrived at the gala. 

Bruce's face changed completely. Selina had always loved how much Bruce could immerse himself in a role. She was a very good actress herself, yet, at some level, Bruce was extraordinary. It was ironic since she loved all her roles and he did not seem to enjoy them at all. Because the roles were necessary, he perfected them so much nobody seemed to be able to catch up on his acting. His kids found it very disturbing Bruce was always someone else than himself. Although she greatly enjoyed his role playing, she sometimes wondered how he could find himself in all that mess. 

Brucie had a smile plastered on his face as he helped her out of the vehicle. There were flashes everywhere. The scene is set, the decorations are up and the actors are arriving ; it is time to start this play.

***

"Clark", Oliver Queen said while shaking his hand. The billionaire looked more than a little upset. The paparazzi asking him again about Bruce Wayne's kiss must not have helped him at all. Lois offered her hands and he also shook hers. His eyes did not leave Clark and they clearly indicated he disapproved of Clark's presence at the event. Lois stared at Oliver for a moment before turning the formidable weapons against her boyfriend. She was asking him what this was about. Clark almost felt bad he had not explained to her all of his last conversation with Oliver.

"I am surprised you are tonight, Oliver. I thought you had a prior engagement", Clark broke the awkward silence. Lois translated in his mind the inquiry : "Oliver, why are you here? You told me you were too busy with Star City's last crime problem to attend this gala".

Oliver laughed nonchalantly, "Oh, you know Dinah, she decided at the last minute she would hire some help to finish the last of the paperwork tonight. Beside, she said, it is time you spent some time with Bruce and Lex, it has been a while since you have been reunited out of the business area. Time to reanimate that friendship, she said. As if I have been avoiding them all this time... We are just too busy. Maybe we should start a fund together to save the oceans and lands or something. ". Lois translated, in her mind, his statement into the following answer: "Dinah told me she would ask help with the last crime problem in Star City. The Bruce and Lex situation is a much bigger crisis. I know you do not want to get mixed with them except for the superhero business and your actual business, but grow a spine and deal with this. Saving the world also means dealing with the Bruce-Lex crisis. Suck it up". Lois thought she might have exaggerated her expression of Dinah, but the serious look on Oliver's normally fun face dissuaded her of that. Tonight would be exciting.

Clark did not answer Oliver's statement. He looked at the entrance to see Bruce and Selina sauntered in, hands in hands. All the room turned to stare at their dramatic late arrival, a picture of passive seductive charms. Clark could see Lex's smile brighten all the way across the room. The reporter could see Lex and Bruce were planning to meet in about half an hour, meaning, after Bruce's dramatic arrival would be forgotten by the party goers. He wanted to intercept Bruce or Lex and stop the plan. Oliver draped his arm over his shoulder and whispered in his ear: "It is bad enough you are here tonight. Do not interfere with them at all. Okay?" Clark did not answer him directly, but nodded.

Lois overheard the statement and observed the anger and suspicion appearing on Clark's face. She could sense Oliver was making the right suggestion, nonetheless, she wanted to know why he was making it and she knew she would question him later when the time was right. Now, there was another spectacle happening before her very eyes. Clark had told her the mentioning of the kiss was a declaration of war and she could feel anticipation beating in her pulse. Oliver's fun mask was creased with worry. Lois had goosebumps, as if this was a horror movie's suspenseful scene. They had another half hour to spend.

Lois, Oliver and Clark were standing alone in a corner. None of them were even trying to start the pretense of a conversation. They were all spying on Bruce and Selina's advance in the room. Bruce was making another joke before flirting lightly with a duchess. Selina was offering a smile in reply to a compliment a sergeant had given her. Lex's moves were more covert. He spoke quietly with another businessman, but Oliver could see he was slowly isolating himself from the crowd. Finally, at the forty-five minute mark, Lex and Bruce greeted each other by coincidence in Lex's abandoned corner. Selina was still holding Bruce's hand. Lex and Bruce exchanged a hug and started speaking. Lois and Oliver turned to Clark. Annoyed, the clumsy reporter started repeating the conversation. It was a standard playboy Brucie and businessman Lex conversation. Nothing alarming was being said.

***

Within a full second of Lex's and Bruce's greetings, Selina knew she had grossly miscalculated the dangers with their little war. It took her much longer to figure why her instinct told her that. Bruce, consumed actor as he was, was playing his playboy role perfectly. Lex was playing his businessman routine with ease. She was the necessary bystander.

Her mind informed her Bruce had not really explained her why this war would be brutal. Brutal, not dangerous. For a reason or another, Bruce did not think her life was in any danger since, normally, he always talked about danger when he wanted to dissuade someone from getting involved in his cases. This time, he didn't. Brutal, the word resonated in her head as she was analyzing the useless conversation before her. Why brutal?

The words in the conversation were useless. They held no special meaning as far as she could see.

Their actions were not special in any ways. They were going through the movements they had repeated countless time with the perfect inflection and timing.

The warmth. That was the difference. Bruce and Lex were being warm to one another under their parade of words. There was sincerity from both of them, hiding in layers of lies and deceit. When Bruce told Lex in his Brucie grandiose way he was happy to see him again after so long, he meant it. When Lex responded in his curt businessman manner that he had missed him too, it was also true.

Suddenly, Selina understood they were playing a very dangerous game. Under all their pretenses of war, they were close friends that hadn't seen one another in years getting reacquainted. Acquaintance made somber by the devastation they would evoke on the other.

Bruce's statement was true, it was brutal. They were going to play this game not as businessmen, not as superhero-villain, not as allies, no, they were playing this personally as Bruce and Lex. They were going to try and wreck their friend's life.

***

"There conversation seems normal, at least normal for the roles they are both playing", Lois finally interrupted Clark's repetition. Oliver looked at her and turned again to Clark, "Clark, can you verify their physical reactions to this conversation". Clark hesitated a bit and after a moment he declared, "They are, as far as I can say, acting normally. Neither of them has a fast pulse". Oliver observed the two men and woman at the other corner and asked, " Could you try it also on Selina?"

"Why Selina? Neither of them had a reaction and I don't know what is Selina's normal pulse rate". Lois noted Clark knew both Lex's and Bruce's normal pulse rate. She wondered if he knew her's better the two men's. She decided it was a bad idea to ponder the subject. There were 'good' superhero reasons he knew both of their pulse rate. She should not read further than that into the situation.

"Try it anyway. Selina has very strong intuition and smarts. If something is going on, she will probably sense it", Oliver explained. Lois made a mental note to ask Oliver or Dinah about Oliver's source of knowledge concerning Catwoman.

Clark did it again. He looked interested in the knowledge he had unearthed, "Her heart beats too fast". Lois stared at Selina. She looked comfortable leaning on Bruce's arm and occasionally chatting with Lex. Lois had to admire Selina's poise.

Oliver gritted his teeth, "Something is going on and Selina knows it". Clark takes a step forward and Lois grabbed his arm, "Wait. Don't go there now, Clark". He glared at her, but before the matter could be resolved, he was distracted. She knew that look. He was being called on the League's comm.

***

"Attention all members of the Justice League, a spatio-temporal anomaly appeared three minutes ago in Gotham city. It seems a villain named Dream Caster is using something to open the time continuity", J'onn J'onzz explained in Batman's ear. Lex was continuing boasting about his latest acquisition. Selina was flattering Lex's ego with her famous Catwoman's techniques. Batman had to extricate himself from the conversation for a short break.

"Sorry Lex and Selina, I have to excuse myself momentarily". Lex's eyes glinted with knowledge, "Don't be shy. Go. We'll still be here when you will come back. I am sure neither of us want to cut short our long awaited meeting". Selina only smiled and nodded at Bruce.

During that short interruption, Hal Jordan had asked clarifications about the unknown villain and J'onn had informed everyone she was a very small crook who operated on the East coast. She had no known association with Gotham. J'onn was suggesting a meeting.

"No meeting is necessary", Batman barked in the comm from a safe room, "J'onn, Green Lantern and Superman can go investigate the phenomenon now. Aquaman will be backup as he is on monitor duty. " A lengthy silence followed his orders. Not only was Batman inviting three members in Gotham, he was not taking part of the investigation.

"Uhm... Are you dying, Bats?", Flash asked worriedly. Hal Jordan added, "Are you scared of a small spatio-temporal incident? If I had known this earlier, I would have hid watches everywhere in the Watchtower. Hey, how come there isn't any watches on the Watchtower? It does go against the concept".

"I would suggest we agree on a plan", J'onn diplomatically said before Batman could reply with his usual sharp replies. Superman interjected, "Batman's plan sounds fine, but Green Arrow might be a better choice than me." This statement was again met with silence.

Without further ado, Batman cut the League's line and called Superman's private line. "Superman, stop this now. You are needed elsewhere", Batman said as way of greeting.

"And leave you alone against Lex? Sorry, I am not leaving you alone with him when you are starting a war", Superman bit back angrily.

"This is my business and I am sure Green Arrow has already advised you to keep out of this".

"Gotham is your business, Lex is my supervillain. You always claim none of us should confront Joker without you around. Why is it alright for you to confront Lex without my help?"

"Have you gone to college with Joker?", the sharp reply came.

There was a small silence, before an angry reply was made, "You never told me you went to college with him".

"Superman, it is public knowledge Lex and I went to Excelsior and Princeton at about the same time. This is not the time to be discussing Lex. You are needed with Green Lantern and J'onn".

"And leave you alone with Lex? No thanks. I am more needed here", a stubborn Superman replied.

Batman's raspy voice indicated he was almost at his wits' end, "Catwoman and Green Arrow are here as backups.Their presence are much more suited to handle Lex's disagreement with me. You can only make this worst. So go and make yourself useful for once". Batman closed the private line and reentered in the Justice League group line.

"So Wally, you really think it is fine Batman and Superman can just shut us down while we are handling an emergency? I mean, if I did what they are doing, Batman would be talking about voting me out of the Justice League. How is that fair?"

"No civilian's name on the comms! How often must I remind you of that, Green Lantern?", Batman snarled irritably, "If I start talking of suspending you, it would be for sharing our secret identities to the whole world".

"And I thought you were upset before, mister dark and moody. It is always a pleasure working with you when you are not cutting us of your private discussions". Hal replied sarcastically.

"I am now near the epicenter of the spatio-temporal distortion", J'onn wisely interjected, "Are Superman and Green Lantern almost here?"

"Hey J'onn, I am waving at you", Green Lantern replied.

"I am also there", an upset Superman also announced.

"Wow, Big Blue, didn't think it possible you could sound even more moody than Batman. Did he tell you you were behaving badly? Don't worry; he tells that to everyone he meets. It kind of is-", Green Lantern pursued. Then the comms became suspiciously quiet. "They are gone", Aquaman announced from the Watchtower. "Gone where?", Flash inquired. "Presumably lost somewhere in time", Aquaman answered back. 


	3. First Strike

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver entertains Lois. Bruce's and Lex's first strike fall against the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was supposed to be a scene with Superman, J'onn and Hal, but the chapter was getting too long. 
> 
> It will be in the next chapter.

Clark and Bruce had been out of room for a full minute, when Lois turned to Oliver, "So now that Clark is out of the way, could you tell me why you are so adamant in keeping him far away from Bruce and Lex?"

Oliver silently cursed in his head. This was another conversation he rather would not have. "Well, before I start, I suggest we get a bit closer to Lex and Selina to better observe them when Bruce comes back", he said to stall. Lois's eyes shined mockingly; she knew what he was trying to do. She nonetheless followed him as they moved closer to the Lex and Selina.

When they were positioned at an appropriate distance to spy on them, but not feel too suspicious (not that Lex, Bruce and Selina would not know what they were doing), Oliver and Lois stopped walking. To bystanders, Lois appeared fascinated by a painting of an old lady staring back at the onlookers. She prompted, "So, about Clark?" Oliver's fingers traced his glass of champagne as he cleared his throat, "Well, Bruce and Lex had a very toxic friendship together. They are both insane, driven, obsessed and very dangerous. Clark is attracted to that kind of character". Lois choked on her water, "Attracted? " 

Oh, shit, Oliver thought, I really did not pick the right word. "I mean, he became best friend with Lex in Smallville and he became best friend with Bruce about ten years ago. Clark seems to look for that kind of trouble", Oliver quickly clarified. Lois's eyes glared at him. She was no one's fool. 

"Oliver, I know Clark had a crush on Bruce about eight years ago. Are you telling me he also had one on Lex?"

Is there a way to backtrack out of this?, Oliver thought, Dinah, this is all your fault. "Well, maybe, he might have had some sort crush on Lex a bit less than twenty years ago. It was not as apparent as his Bruce crush so it is hard to tell", Oliver relented. 

Lois returned her attention to the old lady, "So, you think putting Clark together with two of his past crush trying to mutually destroy one another is not that great of an idea?" 

"Not only that. Bruce is still his best friend and Lex is still is greatest enemy. Both are cunning and manipulative. Bruce does not want Clark involved. Lex wants him involved. Clark wants to be involved. This can't end well for any of them", Oliver explained. 

"Ah, Bruce came back", Oliver said after a moment. "But, Clark hasn't?", Lois continued without turning. "Nope. I sure hope it means Bruce managed to get him sent on a far away mission or something. It would be a small blessing", Oliver seemed very relieved.

***

"How long have you been dating Bruce?", Lex politely asked.

"Oh, we have seen one another on and off for over eight years, but we really started dating seriously since last year", Selina answered with a smile.

"Congratulations. I thought he was only doing one night stands nowadays. You must be a really special woman", Lex replied businesslike. 

"I believe I am", she responded demurely. 

"You do seem like his type", Lex innocently continued. Selina heard the undertone implications. They both knew the list of women Bruce had dated or had interest over the years. There had been exactly three categories, the killers (Talia Al Ghul, Andrea Beaumont, Jezebel), the tragic (Natalya, killed by Mad Hatter for being Batman's girlfriend, Vesper, killed by Cain on the orders of Lex Luthor to diminish Bruce Wayne's reputation, and Sasha Bordeaux, turned into metal hybrid because of him) and the ones who couldn't stay with him (Silver St-Clair, Vicky Vale and Wonder Woman?). She wondered in which category Lex thought she was. 

"May I call you Lex?", Selina asked courteously. She sensed his amusement at her question. He was probably reminded of all the times they had teamed together as supervillains. 

"Of course, as long as I can call you Selina", Lex replied.

"Lex, I feel like I already know you so much. Bruce told me all sorts of things about you from the times you were in Excelsior and Princeton together". Of course, Bruce never told Selina anything about Excelsior, Princeton or Lex. She had had to research the matter. Selina saw Lex's shoulder tensed the tiniest bit. Anyone else would probably have missed it, but Selina was trained to read the tiniest movements of someone. It was a skill she needed in order to know when to push her luck and when to retreat when stealing. Maybe Batman, Cassandra and Superman were better than her at reading people, but she was certainly among the best.

"What sorts of things? I hope he only told you good things about me", Lex nonchalantly continued. 

"He mostly talked about the good time you spent together", Selina saw the tiniest of flinch and pursued her bluff, "You were such good friends back then, always getting in trouble together... It is so sad you decided to part ways". She must of done some mistake since she noticed he relaxed at her last statement. He smirked arrogantly at her bluff. 

"Those were the good old times", Lex commented with a genuinely fond face. 

"They were?", a strong baritone voice said from behind him. Both Selina and Lex were surprised they had not heard Bruce moving there until then. Batman could appear and disappear everywhere, but when Bruce was disguised as Brucie, he always had to walk normally. 

"Of course, they were", Lex answered frankly staring directly in Bruce's eyes. Some sort of message was exchanged between the two men. No elaboration was necessary for them, yet Selina was feeling a bit frustrated at missing vital information. At that moment, Lex's cellphone rang. He made no move to break his stare with Bruce as he took out his phone and answered, "Lex". He listened and continued unperturbed by the stream of information for the first thirty seconds. He closed his eyes afterward, said, "Find it", and hung up. 

"What happened?", Bruce gently asked him, laying an hand on his shoulder. Lex was massaging his temple, "Someone wrecked all my cars at my main residence". 

"Wow, someone must really hate you", Selina said trying not to sound as smug as she felt. 

Lex opened his eyes and glared dangerously at her before turning it to Bruce. Bruce pulled his hand back to himself. 

"Can't you just buy them back? You are rich enough, especially since you probably had them insured", Bruce questioned, seemingly trying to reassure him. 

Lex's glare turned nasty at the suggestion, "Oh, the cars were insured". 

"Then what is the problem?", Bruce asked intrigued. Lex did not have the chance to reply as Damian and Tim joined them, also dressed to the nines. 

"Father", Damian greeted his father. 

People mostly said Damian looked like his father's clone at his age. Lex was secretly comparing him to the fourteen years-old Bruce Oliver had made him meet. The child was younger, shorter, but built more in bulk where Bruce had been lean. During his first years of acquaintance with Bruce, Lex had heard the many whispers Bruce was anorexic. It was difficult to tell the truth since Bruce had been controlling his weight very closely.

If Damian's green eyes convened arrogance, volatile hope, determination and self-importance, Bruce's blue eyes had given away an haunted desperation, a spiteful inhuman determination and a delicate vulnerability, all which contributed to give him a surreal intensity, unbalanced by self-destructive and rebellious urges. 

In some ways, Damian's Al Ghul legacy might save him from Bruce's. Back then, when his obsession with Bruce grew, Lex had intensively researched Bruce's genealogy. He never had showed any interest in the matter beforehand. Bruce's genealogy had truly been riveting.

The Wayne had accomplished many astounding feats, but under it, you could unearth some of their secret rebellious acts, opposing kings and organizations. The Kane (Martha's maiden name) were more often than not on the wrong side of history, but their capacity for cunning survival could not be overrated. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne were interesting individuals. Most reporters lavished their praises on Thomas, nonetheless, Lex had found Martha much more fascinating. Thomas had been a brilliant surgeon, a kind mind with a special determination. Martha, on the other hand, had been a genius, shaming her professor by her brilliance and undermining their authority in the same breath. The pictures also showed her ethereal beauty and her poise for the camera. Martha and Thomas had gone against their parents' wishes and married one another. All of those eccentricities were noted in articles. 

Lex found other type of information concerning Martha. For example, her mother had made her see psychiatrists over 30 times in twenty years. They had tried to labelled her as Attentive Deficit, paranoid, schizophrenia, idiot, obsessive compulsive and others, but none of them could stick. All the psychiatrists could swear there was something wrong with her, yet none of them could identify it. Martha was not the only one in Bruce's ancestry to demonstrate signs of madness. Far from it. 

Martha's mother had seen her mother murder her father before her very eyes and jump from the roof. As interesting as the studies of the Waynes and Kanes had been, there were nothing compared to the studies of the Arkhams (Bruce's maternal grandmother maiden name). There was everything in it: murderers, incest, necrophilia, pedophilia, conquerors, kings, raving manics, witches, illusionists, butchers, knights, painters, poets and actors. Some stories had been buried very deeply, yet Lex liked a good challenge and had managed to obtain it. If there was something consistent in the Arkham's history, it was propensity to tragedy and their capacity for madness. They had accomplished many impossible feats, much more spectaculars than the Wayne's, nonetheless they almost all had some mad darkness tainting their life. 

From Lex's observations from back when he was obsessed with Bruce, he had concluded Bruce was tainted by that same darkness. It was part of his fascination for the man.

Damian, on the other hand, might have inherited the Al Ghul's pragmatism, not the Arkham's madness. At least, from Lex's reports, he displayed none of Bruce's or his ancestor' madness. Hitherto, Bruce and his son both had the same pride and arrogance as well as the certainty they could accomplished what they had set out to do. Lex could not afford becoming too nostalgic if he wanted to win this war. 

"What is it, Damian?", Bruce's tone had a tenderness Lex had never heard him use before. 

"Some guys tried to mugged Tim, Alfred and I when we were walking here. Alfred wanted you to know all of us were fine", Damian continued with some measure of annoyance at the request. Tim had been observing Lex from the corner of his eyes from the moment they had arrived. Of course, Lex ignored it completely.

Bruce made the play of looking worried and upset, "Are you sure you are fine?"

"Yes father. They only wanted a watch". At Damian's words, Lex thought he could see Bruce paled. 

"What watch?", Bruce asked, still playing the worried father.

"Alfred's", Tim answered, observing both Lex and Bruce attentively. The kid was shrewder than most adults in the business world. He would make a difficult opponent if he inherits the business part of Bruce Wayne's empire, though he still lacks finesse and experience.

"But Alfred is fine, right?", Bruce asked hugging Damian. Both Damian and Tim seemed surprise at Bruce's move. Tim was much quicker to recover, "Yes, he is". Damian had tensed at the contact before relaxing a little bit. Lex was congratulating himself on the target. It seems he had well aimed his first move against Bruce.

As Bruce was releasing Damian, Damian tugged his hand and told, "But the watch was stolen in the distraction". Lex knew Bruce had already surmised that had been the goal and he showed no surprise, "Well, at least, you are all fine. That is the important thing". Tim seemed unsure whether Bruce was upset or not. Damian had no idea what was going on except his father was giving him more physical contact. Selina probably sensed the watch was important to Bruce, but she kept her tongue. 

Lex hoped his first strike had pained Bruce as much as Bruce's had pained him. Either way, Lex knew to never show how much damages he had suffered, so Lex smiled arrogantly as only his businessman figure could and said his, "Sorry, but I have to leave". Bruce courteously said his goodbyes. Lex could recognize fourteen-years-old Bruce's intensity burning in the present Bruce's eyes. Now, that was a victory, he thought as he walked away. 


	4. First Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Superman, J'onn and Hal end up in the past. Everyone acts professionally and everything goes well.

"-his greetings", Hal finished. J'onn and Superman looked around, confused. It had been night time in Gotham city. Now they were floating during day time in another city. People were pointing at them and, either running away or running toward them with cameras. "Time to get out of here", Hal said. The three of them found a empty building's roof and settled down. 

"Where are we?", J'onn asked Superman. The Kryptonian looked at the stars and shook his head, "We are definitively in the Northern atmosphere in summer, probably around June. We are... in New Jersey again, but not Gotham. We are in Princeton?"

"You sure?", Hal pushed, while constructing a fly swatter with his ring. 

Superman frowned at Hal's useless constructs, "Pretty sure. There is a big panel a mile out calling this place Princeton, New Jersey".

"Anything else, Superman?", J'onn asked. Superman pondered, "We are not in the same year as we were in Gotham".

"How do you know that?", Hal asked nonchalantly, chasing non-existent flies with his fly swatter. 

"The stars are not in the right position".

"Star-gazing is one of your powers?", Green Lantern remarked.

"Star-gazing has been one of my hobbies since I was very young. My father taught me how", Superman responded aggressively. 

"We should probably find the villain who put us here", J'onn suggested. 

"Sure, what does Dream Caster look like?", Hal clarified. Neither J'onn nor Superman responded. "Seriously, one of you must know what she looks like. Superman, you could probably see her on the other side of the weird twirly thing and J'onn, weren't you in the Watchtower?"

"I was going out of the Watchtower. Aquaman did not transmit me her appearance. I do know she should not have any kind of meta-abilities".

"Superman? Please tell me you have something", Hal pleaded. The Man of Steel looked sheepishly discomfit. 

"You were so mad with Bruce you didn't look at your surroundings!?!", Hal yelled. Superman contested the conclusion, "I simply didn't have time to do it before we were sent away". 

"Wow, I don't know what is going on between Bruce and you, but this is the first time you make such a basic mistake". 

"Perhaps, it would be wise for Superman to hear conversations around this area in hope someone mentions another caped person", J'onn suggested, serene. Hal and Superman looked at one another and nodded to J'onn. Superman extended his super hearing. He was searching, not really listening to J'onn suggesting to Hal not to use his lantern power as there might not be any lanterns to charge up the rings.

"Got it!", Superman yelled to a Hal dressed in a pilot outfit and J'onn taking the appearance of a man dressed in the time's fashion. Superman took both men in his arms and fly them to the area he has heard complaints about a strangely dressed-up girl. Superman set them down under some bushes on near sidewalks. Hal looked around, finding no strange girls. There is almost no one walking on the sidewalks.

Superman noticed a very attractive black-haired young man walking a blonde woman to a crossroads of sidewalk and waving her goodbye. The woman looked at his retreating figure before continuing on her way. As for the young man, he is walking near their sidewalk when J'onn sends them a mental message, "She is on the other side of the bushes". Effectively, a girl with pink hair, blue sky mask and sparkly blue outfit looked at the young man's figure. Unfortunately, a sound in their direction attracted the girl's attention. For a moment, everything is quiet. The girl fell on the young man and held him between the superheroes and herself, "Move and he dies". The young man hit her hard with an elbow and somehow managed to finished on her, pining her hands on the ground. 

"Stop it! You are hurting me, Bruce!", she screamed. The man cautiously releases her and eyes the half hidden superheroes with great intensity, as if they were flies under his microscope. 

Then, it clicked: the attractive appearance, the intelligent glaring blue eyes, the dangerous burning personality barely kept in the man; the young man was Bruce Wayne when he was younger than twenty years old. Superman should have recognized Bruce's gait or pulse's rate, but he could not since it would considerably change after Bruce's famous training overseas. At least, this gives us a timeline of where we are situated time-wise, Superman thought. 

Fortunately for all of them, no one has really seen the strange fight and costumes except Bruce. 

"Who are you?", Bruce's angered scowl encompassed the girl, the two aliens and the strangely dressed human in his questioning. Superman noted Bruce's face was already riddled with a big bruise. 

"They want to arrest me and beat me up!", the girl explained to him, clinging to his long sleeves. Superman could hear Hal make a comment about people wearing long sleeves in summer. Didn't Hal recognized Bruce?, Superman had to ask himself.

Bruce placed himself between Hal, Superman and J'onn and the girl. He assumed a fighting stance and asked the superheroes, "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Hal and Superman exchanged a glance meaning something like, "How do we begin to explain this?"

"We are here to stop the destruction of Earth", J'onn started to explain, "The girl has unwittingly unleashed something dangerous. May we talk this out elsewhere?" Thank God for J'onn!, Hal and Superman thought at the same time.

Bruce looked over at the girl and she nodded. "Fine", Bruce told the superheroes while helping the girl up, "Where are we going?".

Before J'onn and Hal could suggest something, Superman responded, "Your room?"

Bruce's glare turned even more suspicious. Hal elbowed Superman, "Nice going, Big Blue". The girl tugged Bruce's arm, "Your room might actually be for the best, since none of us come from around here". Bruce observed her a minute and relented, "Sure, but the clown and you have to be dressed in a less inconspicuous manner. I don't want to attract even more attention". The clown? Superman looked around and noticed Hal chuckling at him. Oh. Nobody knew Superman yet, so his costume looked strange to them. Well, that was an issue, Superman could not change in Clark Kent's disguise or Bruce would know his secret identity before they even met.

"J'onn, could you go buy me something more normal, please?", Superman asked.

"And for the other guy. Nobody wears a janitor outfit day and night long", Bruce clarified. Janitor? He was talking about Hal's outfit, realized Superman. It is true, it does kind of look like a janitor's outfit.

***

Meanwhile, in the present....

"So Hawkgirl and I finally managed to help the Amazons defeat all the monsters sent to invade Themscyra", Wonder Woman said in her comm, "Did we miss anything in the past three days?"

"J'onn, Superman and Green Lantern seems to have been lost in time travelling earlier this evening. We don't know where they are or how to bring them back", Aquaman responded.

"Oh, that is too bad", Wonder Woman allowed.

"Don't forget to mention Superman and Batman are fighting again for who knows why and the sex tapes scandal has continued growing. Lex Luthor also publicly outed Bruce Wayne", Flash added.

"How come we always miss the fun stuff?", Hawkgirl complained.

"How about we meet and discuss this stuff over coffee, Hawkgirl?", Flash flirted.

"Don't use the comms to gossip or flirt", Batman growled.

"Come on, Batman, you like secrecy so much you don't tell us anything. We do have to fill in the blanks by ourselves or are you telling us you will answer our questions?", Wonder Woman asked.

Her statement was met by silence. "Oh, burn Batman", Flash laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost all the characters are in place for things to proceed.


	5. Second Strike

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce's and Lex's war continues.

"Dinah, please tell me I am needed back in Star City now", Oliver practically begged his wife on his green cellphone. He heard her sigh. 

"Ollie, it can't have been that bad. I checked up on the news and there was no public incidents", his wife replied, as if reasoning with a kid. 

"Dinah, I don't know exactly what were the damages done this time, but I am 100% certain the two of them have managed to wound the other quite substantially", Oliver explained with a whine. 

"Oh. Selina told you about the damages?", came the response.

"No, she doesn't understand exactly why Alfred's watch was important to Bruce nor why the thing she stole from Lex Luthor's house after wrecking all his cars was important. Dinah, this is standard Bruce and Lex war. Nobody except them really gets what is going on and they both hide the damages because of their pride. The only thing that is a constant is both of them will worsen, that I can guaranty you. Lex actually came and greeted me as an old friend. It was very eerie", Oliver elaborated. 

"Oh and I also managed to let slip to Lois Clark had had a crush on Lex and Bruce. Tonight is not my shining moment"

"Don't worry Ollie, things will get better from here. At least, you stopped Clark from trying to stop Lex and Bruce. I think we can all agree that would have been a disaster". 

"About that...", Oliver mumbled.

"What?"

"J'onn, Clark and Hal may have been misplaced in time".

No response were provided for a long time. Finally, she said, "We really have a strange life; stopping your old friends from ripping apart the world and losing some other friends in time travelling is a ordinary day for us".

"I agree. Can I come back?"

"No".

***  
In Bruce Wayne's Manor...

 

Alfred is preparing breakfast when he hears a sound behind him. The inhabitants of Wayne's manor only make sound when they want to get someone's attention. 

"What is it?", Alfred asked without turning.

"Alfred, what is going on?", a maturing voice answered back with a strange mix of vigor and shyness. Alfred knew the following conversation would not be easy. Nonetheless, it is his duty to listen to the other members of his family. 

"Master Tim, I am currently making breakfast. If you have something on your mind, I will prepare some tea and we can talk about it", the butler gently answered. 

"That would be perfect", Tim concluded as he sat at the table waiting for the butler to finish preparing the food. After a minute or two, Alfred brings the food to the table and says, "The tea is being steeped. If you want to wait two minutes, it should be ready".

The young man, not yet out of adolescence, looked at the food and despite liking it, he can't seem to want to eat it. Alfred took pity on him, "Master Tim, what was your question exactly?"

Tim looked at the older man and whispered as if his words had the power to destroy the fragile peaceful moment he had been living in, "What is wrong with Bruce?"

The older man's eyebrows furrowed pensively, "That is a big question to answer over breakfast".

"No, I meant now. What is wrong with him now", the teenager clarified. 

There was pause before Alfred gave Tim a cup of tea and filled one up for himself. Alfred's silence were always more comforting than Bruce's, as if Alfred had thrived in the silences, had learned to inhabit them with grace while Bruce had used them to build walls upon walls between himself and others. Tim winced. It was too easy to ponder on Bruce's social deficiencies and to theorized how Bruce's lifestyle was crazy, not in a superhero way, but in a decidedly Bruce fashion. 

"I believe Mr. Luthor declared a war against Master Bruce", Alfred finally told him. Tim nodded, he was aware of that, "Why doesn't he call a League or Family meeting to deal with it?"

"I am afraid, Master Tim, the war is a personal matter between the two men. Master Bruce has recruited some of Selina's help and that was it. It is not the first time they have made war". 

Tim contemplated the answer. It was not as if he did not know Bruce tended to do things on his own. Beside, Bruce was getting better at working with others. Yet, a small voice in the back of his mind told him something was different here. 

Tim had noticed Bruce's strangely intense stare at the gala and Lex's unusual behavior. Lex Luthor never spoke more than two minutes with Bruce except when there was an audience or a business meeting. Tim knew that fact because he had timed all of their interactions and noticed Lex and Bruce were always careful not to spent more time in each other's company than necessary. For the longest time, Tim had thought they had a special hatred or disdain for the other. Now older, the young man still couldn't say for sure why they limited their times so much especially since they both went out of their way to know what the other was planning. Yesterday evening, at the gala, Tim knew for a fact Lex and Bruce had spent about half an hour together. The war was changing their status quo. 

"What is Lex's deal with Bruce, anyway?", Tim could not stop himself from asking. Alfred observed him for a moment, "They might have been friends for a while".

Tim had already gathered that information, still it didn't explain much, "How does Lex know your watch was important for Bruce when nobody else knew? Was it Bruce's father's watch?"

Alfred seemed to ponder how much he such tell Tim, "Master Bruce probably only told me about the watch. I never told anyone. As for its importance, you should ask him yourself. Master Bruce has opened up considerably in the past few years".

The younger man knew Alfred was pushing him to try to get Bruce to share his stories. It always took extra courage to tackle Bruce's walls. The biggest issue with the walls were not its strength, it was the way Bruce convoluted thinking made you believe they were down.You started believing you were making progress until you realized the walls had only become invisible, to be brought up again when Bruce wanted them to. It was a never ending quest.

Before the conversation could be continued, Jason Todd flew in the front door. He never used the front door without ringing the doorbell. He never ran in the kitchen (because of Alfred of course). Tim deducted there was big trouble when Jason did both.

Jason's hair was disheveled, his jacket still bloodied as if he only just came back from his patrol, his pants and boots dirtied by what looked like muck. Jason was yelling, without noticing nor caring for Alfred's presence, "WHERE IS HE?" while carrying his revolvers in his hands.

Alfred, always aplomb, rose up and questioned Jason in a strongly undertone of disapproval, "What is the problem, Master Jason?"

Jason's face turned in their direction, its anger easily displayed with a subtle emotion peppering it. Was it betrayal? "Alfred, where is he? WHERE IS BRUCE?"

Damian chose that moment to walk in. "What is going on?", he asked as arrogantly as the Demon brat could.

"Damian, where is BRUCE?", Jason yelled. Tim was worried about Jason's use of Damian's real name. Nothing was adding up. Jason was acting very strangely indeed.

Damian's defenses rose up. Tim could feel the tension building. Jason was on the verge of shooting in Alfred's kitchen. This was truly a crisis, so Tim made a quick decision, "He is in the library, reworking his tactics". Supplying information to Jason to limit the damages in Alfred's kitchen and to give them time to prepare defenses was a sound decision. Damian's expression called him a traitor, yet Tim's conscience rationalized his decision: he always had to follow the best course of action even if it looked bad from an onlooker's point of view.

Jason ran through the rooms with Alfred, Damian and Tim at his heels. Bruce emotionless look at their strange entrance made Tim suspect Bruce had been awaiting Jason's arrival. Tim's insides twisted in apprehension.

Jason advanced menacingly on his step father, "YOU... YOU LIED TO ME!" Bruce closed his book and turned to Alfred, Damian and Tim and asked them to leave.

They hesitated. Jason made the choice for them by slamming the door in their faces.

Alfred, Damian and Tim could all hear Jason's voice still yelling, "YOU TOLD ME YOU WOULD NOT READ IT! YOU SWORE TO ME IT HAD BEEN DESTROYED AND THAT YOU DID NOT MAKE ANY COPIES OF IT!"

Presumably, Bruce made an answer, although none of them could hear it. They heard Jason's interruption, "I FOUND IT ON MY BLOODY BED THIS MORNING!" The yelling continued for some time, Bruce never raising his voice in response. The audience behind the door was waiting for a gun shot or things breaking. They never heard any of that and in some ways, this was worst.

A still enraged Jason whispered something to Bruce and opened the door to face the three members of Bruce's living in the mansion. Tim thought he saw blurry eyes, but it was difficult to tell since Jason was a blur heading to the front door. Nobody moved to stop him. Then, as one movement, they all turned to see Bruce, still looking at where Jason had been standing. One hand was leaning on the table and Tim noted the hand was shaking.

"Father", Tim heard Damian say surprised at Bruce's show of emotion.

Bruce's face turned in their direction, but Tim could see he saw no one. Bruce's tired eyes were glazed like a window in the morning of cold, heavy rain. Suddenly, Tim saw with clarity the precious vulnerable core in the man of grit. For a moment, Tim was scared Bruce would crumbled before his very eyes like a dried up sand castle. The moment passed; Bruce's hand was no longer shaking. With his hand on the table, Bruce picked his abandoned book, leafed through it until he found his place and kept reading without acknowledging anything that had just happened. After a while, Alfred, Damian and Tim retreated to the kitchen to eat a silent, tasteless breakfast.

The morning's events only reinforced "What was wrong with Bruce now?"'s legitimacy.

***

Meanwhile, in Lex Luthor's Metropolis building...

Lex Luthor was being accompanied by his loyal Mercy. She looked at him shocked, "Are you humming 'It is a small world'?"

"I am", Lex responded with an amused smile.

"Did you already manage to trap your elusive beast?"

"Not yet, Mercy. If it only took this much, Bruce would have died a long time ago", Lex said grinning at her in his particular malicious way.

"Then why are you so pleased?", Mercy asked, truly curious at how Lex had managed to gain such an advantage this early in his war.

"First strike had been partly against Bruce's parents, partly against himself. Second strike was his second biggest regret and the guiltiest moment in his life, Jason Todd's death", explained a joyous Lex.

"What did you do? Kill the kid again?", an unimpressed Mercy questioned.

Lex's eyes gleamed almost manically, "Kill? Mercy, I thought you had been listening yesterday. I am not killing anyone this time; I am tearing Bruce apart".

"What did you do to the kid, threatened him ?", a still unimpressed Mercy continued.

Lex gave her his patented 'Are you crazy' look, "Mercy, threatening a member of that family is a sure way to breed defiance and resistance. No, I only put a book of notes and observations on his bed".

"And?", Mercy pressed, still not getting Lex's point.

Lex made a big gesture with his hands and turned to her, whispering secretly to her as a conspirator, "Mercy, earlier this year, the kid asked Bruce's help in finding Talia Al Ghul's notebook on his resurrection and recovery. He wanted all copies of it destroyed. His asking Bruce's help was a big step in recovering their relationship. Bruce helped him do it and both of them kept this event quiet from the others, even Alfred. Talia confirmed all copies of the notebook were in Bruce's and the kid's possession. The kid found said notebook on his bed this morning."

Now Mercy was interested, "Did you just make another notebook with Talia's help or did Bruce keep a notebook hidden from the kid? There would have been useful information about the kid's health in it."

Lex grinned again, "Wouldn't you want to know?"

"I would", Mercy insisted. Does he want me to beg every time I want some information?, she thought.

"I prefer to leave you guessing. I don't want you to get too much insight on Bruce, it would destroy my exclusivity", Lex declared as a snob reporter would to his colleagues as he pressed the bell for the elevator. He entered in it without dismissing Mercy and pressed for the main floor of his Lex tower.

Lex was still humming when the elevator stopped between fourth and third floors and the lights shut off. The billionaire frowned; his building only used top tech. He tried using the intercom. No answer. He tried opening the doors. It wouldn't budge. His cellphone wasn't working. "Really, Bruce? You think this would upset me? I may not be as involved in action as you, but I have seen much worst", Lex chuckled to himself. Then the music started playing. 

Lex's relationship with his father had been marred in brutality and abuse. His father liked to play an obscure song when he was getting into it. Lex had never heard the song anywhere else and had never told anyone about the song. Nonetheless, now, the song was playing in his private elevator in Lex Tower. 

Lex sat in a corner of his elevator and breathed in and out heavily. Bruce would not get a reaction out of this one move.

Lex's rescue team opened the elevator after thirty minutes. Someone had put a something to disrupt power in the elevator and the elevator was otherwise booby-trapped. The rescue team had to carefully removed it. Mercy was waiting for Lex with the rescue team. 

Lex looked nothing like he had that same morning. Gone were the perverse joy and malicious childish playfulness. Now, there was simmering anger and fragile hurt in his eyes. His jaw was set in determination and it looked like it was the only thing stopping him from losing control. 

In some strange ways, Lex had never looked so powerless. Even when Superman would break in Lex's office and dangled him at arm's length, Lex had seemed the one in control, taunting the supposedly God with his arrogance and wits. Now, someone had turned Lex's powerful building against him and made him listened something nobody of the rescue team had been privy to. The sound stopped before the doors opened up. Mercy was sure it was specially made to get a reaction out of Lex. 

For the first time since Lex declared war, Mercy realized this war was exciting, much more so than Lex's usual plans concerning Superman, although she normally had a much better understanding of what was going in plans against Superman than with Lex's plans concerning Bruce Wayne. Lex had told her the truth when he said Bruce was willing and capable of hurting him. However those two knew one another, they had learned supremely well how to hurt the other. Maybe she should keep notes of some of Bruce's better ideas in case she ever got tired of Lex.

Nevertheless, Mercy had to ponder why neither Lex nor Bruce were willing to share the other's secret weaknesses with others. Bruce had made sure nobody knew what was being played to Lex and Lex had refused to tell the truth about the watch and whether Bruce had kept the notebook. Were they still protecting the other's secrets in their own twisted ways?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The pace of the releases will slow down starting tomorrow. 
> 
> Next chapter: Superman, J'onn and Hal have to convince eighteen-years old Bruce to help them (it is not as easy as you would think).


	6. Green Lantern and Superman are here... to save the day?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Green Lantern and Superman are saving the day. Poor J'onn. Seriously, he never asked to be put on this team.

"Okay, what is Plan B?", Hal asked while running. 

"Plan B is you apologize and we convince them to accept Plan A", Superman answered, also running along Hal.

Hal stared at him mouth opened, almost hitting a tree, "S'xuse me? I have to apologize to Bruce? Like this isn't your fault at all?".

"I wasn't the one going through Bruce's room", the vexed Superman pursued.

"Oh, and you think you were much better? Beside, if not now, when will be the next time I can gather blackmail material about him? Nowadays, he would never ever leaves me alone in his room, car or anything! He would rather trust Wally with his possessions than me and the kid breaks everything!"

"I kind of get why he would never leave you in his room again. I wouldn't either after the stunt you pulled on him", the Kryptonian replied. 

"Still, at least, I wasn't ordering him to answer super intrusive personal questions like you did. No wonder they ran away..."

"Hey! Bruce in the present refuses to answer all questions! I have to get information from -"

An angry voice politely interrupted the brilliant conversation "Please stop talking". Superman and Hal turned to see J'onn in disguise. "From now on, let me do the talking with them", J'onn said, "this was a simple mission with a simple objective. Change Dream Caster's mind about wishing for the eradication of Earth. She came back here with the object because she trusts this timeline Bruce and wanted to see him again before destroying the world. We only had to convinced him to help us convince her to stop wishing for the Earth's destruction. Instead, you harassed this timeline's Bruce with truly unwarranted personal questions, searched his entire room and stole some of his possessions. Did you think any of that was a good way to convince Bruce to help us?" 

Truthfully, it was very difficult to disagree with what J'onn was saying. Of course, on a good day, Bruce was paranoid and let's not even discuss a bad day. Hal and Clark did mess us the mission because of reckless curiosity. That much was true. 

Hal turned to Clark and both looked back at the angry Martian. Neither had noticed he could become very angry before. Batman would always lose his temper before J'onn so nobody thought J'onn could lose his. Well now they knew.

"Okay, let's go do this", Hal said pumping an hand in the air. The other two continued running.

"Hey, show some interest! We are playing hide-and-seek with Bruce, Lex and Oliver! When will be the next time this could happen?"

Superman remarked, "The last thing I heard from them was they were thinking of knocking us unconscious, painting my face and yours blue and maybe leaving us in our underpants with a noose around our neck. Oliver was joking. I think Lex was also. I am not so sure about Bruce..."

"They don't want to do it to J'onn?". 

Superman explained, "This timeline Bruce kind of like J'onn's personality and he apparently pities him for having to deal with the two of us. He deduced J'onn was put with us incompetent folks as punishment of some sort".

"Ha! That is rich coming from him!", Hal responded with a cocky grin.

"There may be some truth to that statement", J'onn humorlessly replied. Both Hal and Superman mentally agreed to let the Martian cool down before talking again.

***  


An hour prior (or how this mess truly began)

"So, this is my dorm. Before we enter it, these are my rules", Bruce disengage from his conversation with Dream Caster to turn on Superman, Hal and J'onn, all dressed according to the time's fashion. J'onn nodded and mentally warned Hal not to say anything sarcastic. The pilot frowned.

"First rule, do not EVER go through my things. That includes breaking and stealing anything in my room. Second, do not talk to anyone here except for me. If someone asks you a question, either ignore them or stare at them until they flee", Superman almost giggled at that second rule, but he noticed in time young Bruce's deadly serious face boring holes through him. Hal had the "you are kidding, right?" face he used when Batman would ask something impossible.

"Third rule, leave my room if I tell you to. Fourth rule, don't do anything suspicious like fighting here. Fifth...". Hal interrupted Bruce's speech, "Just how many rules have you invented just to annoy us?".

Bruce glared at him, not in the controlled anger or annoyance Batman fashion the superheroes were so used to, but in the wild dangerous way an untamed panther would at a spent prey ready to be eaten. Hal retreated and closed his mouth. He may have been one of the bravest man on Earth, but he wasn't completely crazy.

Bruce turned his glare to Superman and J'onn in an unspoken question. J'onn politely interjected, "Any other rules we should be aware of?"

Bruce's shoulders relaxed a tiny bit and he continued his list, "Fifth, do not talk loudly, preferably don't talk at all if you are not answering a question. Sixth, don't bother pretending to know me. You'll look more suspicious if you do. Seventh, don't mess my room. No food nor drinks except if I give it to you. Eight, if I tell you to drop a subject, do it yesterday. Ninth, do not lay a finger on this girl or me. Tenth, last and foremost, do not play me as a fool or betray me or I will fucking kill you".

Superman normally received threats from everything between highly dangerous criminals to ordinary citizens. He had long found a way to put the threats out of his mind while keeping the information detained in them. Still, Superman could not resist shivering at a eighteen years old sweetly said threat. He did call Batman the most dangerous human and this was a reminder this teenager would be him in less than a decade. Hal also seemed unsettled by the clear teenager's threat and the promise to kill that Batman would not have pronounced. J'onn nodded his comprehension and the three superheroes followed the young man and the late thirty years-old pink haired woman up the stairs.

"So, Superman, what did the girl and him whisper along the way?", Hal whispered.

"Bruce wanted to have all information she had on us, especially our weaknesses and our strength", Superman whispered back.

"She knows I am a telepath?", J'onn asked mentally. Superman shook his head. This was good news, still she had seen Green Lantern and Superman without their costumes.

Superman thought they could deal with that later.

Hal, Superman and J'onn noticed all college students stayed well cleared of Bruce or any of them. Superman would have thought it was respect if they did not scramble away as mice before a cat... Older, well-built students were definitely hiding in bedrooms when Bruce was passing in the corridor. Okay, that does it, Bruce was very scary as a teenager.

Bruce unlocked a door and let them in, looking suspiciously at Hal when he was passing him by. Hal observed the room and wasn't surprised the room was neatly arranged without personality. The room's walls had nothing decorative on it, no posters, no paintings, no photos. The bed was made in the military style while the linens were rich, but nondescript in their color schemes. The only thing Hal found interesting was the rows of books on the bookshelves. There was books about sociology, criminology, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, literature, biology, physic, chemistry, mathematics, mechanics as well as in languages Hal could not read. He thought he recognized French, Latin, Spanish and German, but he couldn't be sure if the rest was Korean, Japanese or Chinese and he was pretty sure some of them were from Africa and Middle East. The bookshelves were using most of big room's place. Before Hal could go closer to the books, Bruce spoke up.

"Helena and the quiet man can sit on the bed. I will take the chair and the both of you", he said gesturing to Hal and Superman, "can sit on the floor". Okay, what did Spooky have against him before he was even Batman? Hal was vexed a brat (especially Bruce) was ordering them around. The others obeyed him, though Helena did so a bit hesitantly.

"So let's start at the beginning. Who are you and what are you doing here?", Bruce continued when everyone was settled in.

Thankfully, J'onn took the reins of the conversation, "I am J'onn. The three of us work together to avoid calamities on Earth. Dream Caster and the three of us are not from this timeline. We should try to avoid changing anything here. Unfortunately, Dream Caster took a dangerous object who could make her travel timelines and came here. We followed her in the portal and we are hoping what she did can be reversed in order to avoid destruction".

Bruce turned to Dream Caster and raised an eyebrow, "Bruce, I did find some sort of wish granting object. I was depressed, so I kind of wish the end of the world. I don't know how to undo it either. It doesn't seem to react to anyone else's wishes. I tried it with my best friend".

"If you wished for the end of the world, how come it is still standing and how come you came to this timeline, Helena?", Bruce questioned her a bit more gently.

She reddens and mumbled, "I wanted to see you again. I don't know why the world hasn't ended yet. Maybe it just takes time to load up the object?"

No one thought that was the only thing stopping the end of the world. Nonetheless, Bruce asked, "Am I not in your timeline, Helena?"

The thirty something woman looked at the floors and fidgeted, "You are, but you are not as nice as this version". Hal and Superman were very interested in the statement. Eighteen year old Bruce was nice? How did Helena (as Bruce called her) know Bruce?

Bruce accepted her explication with a nod and turned to Superman and Hal with twinkling eyes who would have been appropriate in a casino's blackjack's winner, "And your names are?"

They looked at one another. Hal said, "Call me Allen". Bruce observed him a second and looked at Supermen. Superman felt weak under the intense stare, as if the eyes were red suns, not eyes and he fumbled, "Uh, call me Thomas". The young man's face into a nasty glare. Okay, wrong choice, thought Superman, to call myself by his father's name, but it was too late to change it.

"What do you normally do in a situation like this?", Bruce asked them, still glaring daggers at 'Thomas'.

"We could inspect the wish-granting object and formulate a plan of attack", J'onn answered. Bruce nodded and the girl took an ancient looking pen from her pouches. J'onn delicately took it to inspect the object. Superman should have been also looking at it, but he didn't want them to solve the problem now and get sent back in the present, he wanted to get to know this version of Bruce. So, he observed Bruce inspecting the object with J'onn. Superman failed to notice Hal slipping to the cupboards and putting an hand on one of them.

"No touching!", an angry Bruce snapped at 'Allen' while rising to intercept him. It was probably from that moment that things really started spinning out of control.

Hal fell on Bruce, accidentally tearing apart Bruce's long sleeve on his shirt. Hal apologized for his actions, still Superman could see the satisfied gleam in his eyes that seemed to say, 'take that you brat!'.

Bruce punched Hal in the stomach and was stopped by Helena before he could also knee him. Hal almost managed punching Bruce in the face and would have if not for Superman stopping him in time. Now, Superman and J'onn had to deal with an angry Bruce and a vengeful Hal.

Finally, Helena managed to calm down Bruce. Hal was complaining while touching his ribs with one hand, "He punched over a stupid cupboard! A cupboard!". Superman used his stern lecture tone, "Al, you got in a fight with an eighteen years old boy. You are supposed to be the matured one between the two of you". J'onn was transmitting his thoughts verbally to his two teammates, "Hal, we probably need this Bruce's help to convince Helena not to destroy the world. Please try not to antagonize him anymore".

Bruce glared daggers at 'Allen' and said, "You can't even follow ten simple rules! What kind of organisation are you working for?"

Superman answered him before Hal could start spurting insults, "Uh, we are good-doer organisation, sanctioned by the UN?"

Bruce looked down at his ripped apart sleeve, "How can the UN even have any trust in you amateurs?". The young man knew he could stand bloodied shirts and pants, but his ridiculous butler would never have let him outside the Manor with a ripped apart shirt. Why did Bruce even consider the old man's words of wisdom about clothing in a situation like this? Nonetheless, Bruce was rummaging through his walk-in closet for a new shirt when he heard 'Thomas' 's reply, "We are good at what we do". The teenager could practically hear the sun filled confident smile in the statement. What a ridiculous organisation, the angry teenager thought as he threw a red long sleeved shirt on the bed. Bruce was rolling the bottom of his shirt off his navel when he realized he had a silent and attentive audience. Helena had a pinkish hue at the cheeks, while she was shyly looking at him through her eyelashes. 'Thomas' was blinking awkwardly and googling at him as if he couldn't believe his luck and, worst of it, 'Allen' had leaned shamelessly forward looking interested in the show Bruce could provide him. Bruce wasn't shy, but he sure didn't liked being paraded in a roomful of strangers; he had had enough of that shameful zoo animal act at galas and such.

At least, Bruce thought as he brought back down his shirt to the obvious disappointment of his audience, John seems reasonably irritated by the others' behavior. Bruce crossed his arms and consider if he should leave the room to change or just forget it. On one hand, if Helena was right, the superheroes, as they called themselves, were strong enough to kidnap her without Bruce being capable of doing anything to stop them. Might as well test them again, Bruce thought, "Helena, are you sure those three are the only ones who followed you here?" She nodded. "Then, Helena, take this and go with the big guy to take some drinks down the hall. Knock three time, one on each side of the door and one above. The two of you", Bruce turned to 'Allen' and John, "lock the door behind them and only open it at the good signal. Don't look through my stuff!", he added, looking specifically at Allen. The man only grinned in a way Bruce thought was so self-assure of his charm it was cringe-worthy.

After one last glare, Bruce went into his bathroom and changed shirt. When he came out, he noticed 'Allen' had a bit Bruce's white powder on his hands he put on some off his cupboard to know if someone had rummaged through his stuff. John was looking at 'Allen' with a stern frown. Nobody spoke until 'Thomas' and Helena came back with a variety of drinks bought with Bruce's money.

For the next short while, John, Helena and Bruce exchanged ideas to save the world. 'Allen' more or less behaved himself except for the sarcastic comments he aimed at Bruce. Superman could see the younger man was almost at his wit's end and Superman valiantly tried to entertain Hal's attention. He was more or less successful when someone could be heard playing with Bruce's doorknob. Bruce looked more annoyed than worried about said noise.

"Hey Bruce, surprised to see us?", a blond young adult said while crossing the threshold to Bruce's room. It took much less time to place the face to Oliver Queen than it had with Bruce. Oliver had not changed that much from twenty to forty, except he did not have his goatee and his skin was smoother. The man standing behind Oliver almost gave Superman an heart attack. Lex!?! Lex was just a bit younger than he had been when Clark first met him in Smallville. He looked almost exactly the same as Clark remembered. Was Lex such a good friend of Bruce he would waltzed in when he pleased ?

Ollie's expression changed from childish joy to surprise to excitement. Lex furrowed his eyebrows observing the dorm room's inhabitants attentively while Bruce only looked more exasperated at their intrusion.

"You made some new friends?", Oliver gushed looking strangely supportive of the fact teenager Bruce would make friends with four suspicious looking late thirty years old adults. Bruce rolled his eyes, "Why are you here?"

"Well, Lex here was...", Oliver started before being interrupted by Lex curiously asking, "Who are these guys?"

Bruce sighed and stood up, "Parasites", he gestured to the four previous inhabitants, "please meet annoyances", he gestured to Lex and Oliver. Only Hal and Superman truly seemed irritated by the insulting and unhelpful introduction. Neither Lex nor Oliver batted a eyelash at the introduction, as if they had both been introduced like that often by Bruce.

Lex came to stand beside Bruce, while still examining the "parasites" with vivid interest, "So Bruce, you always stumble on interesting situations like this. What did you do?" Lex, of whom Batman had never fully explained his acquaintances to Superman, put one hand on Bruce's shoulder as he teased him. The teenager doesn't glower at him nor shake from his grip. He accepted it as if Lex could always touch him like that. Something in Superman broke; Lex was a menace to the world while Bruce was one of its greatest assets. Some time after, Superman would reflect his common sense broke down in pieces at that exact moment. At the time, he thought he was acting normally.

'Thomas' stood up menacingly, "Who are you and what are you doing here?" he glowered at Lex. Everyone could have heard a pin dropped. Even Lex's normally imperturbable face was astonished at the change of mood 'Thomas' was projecting. Bruce, on the other hand, had had enough of the strange visitors' attitude. If some intuition hadn't stopped him, against his better judgment, from antagonizing the suspicious characters at their first meeting, he would never have agreed to lead them to his room. They were definitely after him. Wild fire burned irrationally in his eyes and mind. They had to go.

"Who he is and what he is doing here is none of your business. You are the one intruding", Bruce growled, the warning scent of an irrupting volcano on his breath, at him. Anyone in their right mind would have heeded the warning and backed off. Superman was not in his right mind.

"Oh. So you are friends with Oliver Queen and Alexander Luthor, but it is nobody else's business?", an unnerved Superman replied, catching one of Bruce's hand in his hand and holding it almost tenderly. Bruce's eyes widen at Superman's knowledge and action. He tried to shake the Kryptonian's grip without success. Lex had released Bruce's shoulder and hit Superman on the jaw, "Let him go!". The frustrated superhero did not react to the throw, still Lex felt his bones shake from the impact.

"No, I am not letting Bruce go until I get some answers", a stubborn Kryptonian announced to a withering looking Bruce, a wounded Lex and a still-shocked Oliver.

On the other side of the room, a surprised Hal had to pick up his jaw from the ground while a distressed Helena ran to see Bruce, "Let him go!". J'onn seemed uncertain how to proceed, especially since Kal-El was never this demanding.

"You, whoever you are, will regret this", Bruce whispered at 'Thomas' too calmly to be true.

"Answer my questions", an unimpressed Kal-El pursued, "Why do they enter by infraction? Why do you let them do it?"

Bruce did not stop glowering at him. "Answer", Kal-El ordered tensely staring straight at Bruce's eyes.

"Uh, I don't really know what your deal is, but if I answer your questions, will you let him go?", a perturbed Oliver asked.

"No!", Lex and Bruce yelled at him together. Bruce added, "It really is none of his business and he is breaking many rules.."

Superman turned to Oliver, "Yes, I will let him go. I only do this since it is the only way to get some answers out of him. Otherwise, he will evade the subject, dancing with his half truths, never giving away his true secrets ". He then returned his stare to Bruce's brilliant eyes, glistering in hate and powerlessness, "You and your ridiculous rules, do you really think I would follow them forever?"

"Uh, Lex and I, we break into Bruce's room because Bruce would never let us in. We did try asking him", Oliver said after a moment to break the mounting tension between Bruce and 'Thomas'.

"But he lets you enter, doesn't he? That must mean you are friends", a thoroughly angry Kal El prodded. Hal was now standing close to Bruce and Oliver, mesmerized by the dangerous tension generated by Kal El and Bruce staring into the other's eyes. J'onn was moving closer, hoping Kal El knew what he was doing. He wanted to trust the Man of steel. Everyone in the room could only watch the hopelessly hostile exchange between a silent teenager and the adult griping his hand. Bruce was about an inch shorter than Superman and the height difference was highlighted by Bruce's civilian clothing and the way he was leaner as a young man than he had been as Batman.

"Yes, we are", Lex surprisingly answered, daring Superman to doubt him, "and we will make you pay if you don't leave Bruce alone now". Superman noted Lex's sincerity and anger in the answer. Lex was never this sincere, he thought. Lex could never be this sincere in his friendships.

Superman, against his heart's ardent wish, let Bruce's hand go.

Normally, in such circumstances, someone who had been at someone else's mercy for some time would retreated from that other person. Bruce was in no way normal; he moved a step forward, forcing Kal El back in order to avoid colliding with him, "What's your problem with me?"

There was no good way to answer the question, so Kal El was happy when Oliver intervened, "Uh, calm down Bruce. Maybe we should talk it out?" The blond man smiled brightly at everyone in the room. Helena was huddling close to Bruce, strangely looking to him for protection. Lex was standing protectively near Bruce. Both J'onn and Hal were lost in how out of control the situation had gotten. Kal El knew he had messed up. He had realized his ordering Bruce to answer a question had been a terrible move to earn his trust. By then, it was too late.

On some unknown signal, Lex threw a rotten orange, presumably taken from Bruce's backpack laying on the floor, at Superman's face and Bruce sent some unknown obscuring powder in the air. Superman caught the smelly fruit and could see Bruce taking Helena's hand and running to the door, almost stumbling on Hal's foot. Oliver and Lex seemed to have been ready to escaped since both passed the threshold before Bruce and Helena. Hal, J'onn and Superman looked at the open door for a moment, before consulting one another with glances. It was not as if kidnapping Helena back in broad daylight and convincing her to leave the world alone was an advisable option at this point.

J'onn proposed, "Maybe Superman can hear what they are planning before we start running after them?" Superman listened to them escape the building and stopping at the edge of the forest. He heard Bruce say, "Helena, can you wish the three scary men lose their powers for some while?". She replied, "I can try". He couldn't hear them anymore. Don't tell me it worked?, he wondered.

The Man of steel tried levitating and his power failed after he was an inch up, "Uh guys? Bruce asked her to make us lose our powers for some time. It seems I can use them a bit..." He interrupted himself when he realized J'onn was looking alien again for a second. Superman tried again to lift in the air and found his powers were quite unstable. Hal also noticed something, "He stole my ring! I can't believe it!"

"Maybe it was his revenge for stealing his magazines?", Martian answered unsympathic to his plight.

Superman had to ask, "What magazines?"

Green Lantern gave him a cocky smile, "I found his porno stack. Took some to use as blackmail material against him in the present".

Supermen send him a glare before suggesting, "Hal and I will run to their last location. J'onn can you find a way to arrive at the forest at the back without being seen as a green alien?" The Martian gave him a curt nod and both Hal and Superman ran downside, with Superman sometimes overhearing Bruce, Oliver, Lex and Helena's conversations.

As they were running to the edge of the forest, where the other group no longer was, Hal asked, "Okay, what is Plan B?"

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, J'onn doesn't need any of this.


	7. Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Selina and Green Arrow stalk Bruce.

"How do you know they will meet today?", a masked Selina asked Green Arrow as they watched the Wayne Manor with binoculars.

"I know them too well", Oliver replied to the cat. 

Selina leaned closer, "But, they just did each other much harm yesterday".

Oliver dismissed the idea with his hand, "Believe it or not, they are closer friends when they try to destroy the other". Catwoman leaned in while staring at him, obviously waiting for a continuation of his explanations. Green Arrow sighed, "Look, I don't understand them. I just know them. Each time they have declared war against the other, they would become best friends. Is it because they can prove to the other they know them better than anyone else or is it another way to hurt the other? I have no idea. I have long abandoned hope of understanding their point of view". The two masked persons fell quiet while waiting for Bruce's move. 

Oliver thought back to his reunion with Bruce after all those years apart, nearly twelve years ago. Both of them had changed a lot, for the better and the worst. Lex, on the other hand had been in and out of contact for the past twenty years. It had never been the same after what had happened twenty years ago. 

Oliver may have been naive and bored when he decided to become the two loners' friend. Nowadays, he realized he had liked the thrill of their adventures and the stimulation both interactions gave him. The man didn't think he was as brilliant or mad as either of them, still there was no denying Oliver had always been exceptionally gifted. Most of Oliver's peers had been party goers, snobs and jocks. Bruce and Lex had been extraordinary in their own individual ways. He had been attracted to Lex's intense curiosity and genius and Bruce's overwhelming sense purpose in life as well as his physical exploits. Oliver was always surprised people had seen Lex as a wimpy intellectual and Bruce as a violent delinquent in Excelsior and Princeton University. Both of those characterization were simply too out of their depth, although it was true Lex was an intellectual and Bruce had been violent.

Oliver had been fascinated by both personalities; they were like no one he knew. It still hold true now, though he had decided his fascination was dangerous and morbid. Trying to understand either of them would be a psychiatrist's wet dream or worst nightmare. Over the years of prickly interactions with Lex, Oliver had decided to strictly keep it business. With Bruce, it had been harder since they were technically allies. Beside, Bruce was more closed off than ever. That was why Oliver had let go of his need to get along with Bruce and had instead cultivated friendships with Alfred and Selina. If he wanted Bruce Wayne's presence or Batman's help, he would contact either Alfred, Selina or both to ask them to convince Bruce. Their percentage rate of success were much higher than Oliver's had been. With the cat's and the butler's help, even Diana and Clark had difficulty achieving his success levels. 

Dealing with Selina was easier than Bruce in many ways. Where Bruce was an unmovable rock, Selina was supple as water. Bruce would either grunt something or not even acknowledge your existence. Selina, on the other hand, would escape most of your questions with deflections and vague answers. At least, Selina talked to you as if you existed, if only to get some information out of you. 

Alfred was a brave man and could be convinced if you gave him good rational reasons for getting Bruce out of the house. He would even supply you with good reasons if needed. Oliver was extremely fond of the old butler. He, compared to Oliver, Lex and Bruce, had not changed much in the past twenty years, except for getting older and more worried about Bruce. Not that Oliver could blame him for either of those changes.

"Why are you keeping watch on the Wayne manor?", a voice interrupted Oliver's thought process. He sighed, lowering his binoculars, "Well, I was tasked at making sure neither Bruce nor Lex got too out of control with their little war. Since they are meeting tonight, I have to follow them around, hence the binoculars". Red Robin nodded at the explanation, "You do know Bruce knows you are keeping watch". Oliver turned around to face a teenager stepping out of the shadow, "Yeah, he does know". The teen in costume pierced him with his eyes, "You don't even care if he knows it". The kid was too sharp for his own good, Oliver thought. He could gasp someone else's plan with only mediocre information. 

"Why should I bother trying to hide it? It won't change Bruce's plan for the evening". Oliver could feel both Catwoman and Red Robin were intrigued with his knowledge. He knew the two costumed persons had assembled many pieces of the puzzle that was Bruce and they were always hungry for more. The enigmatic Bruce had a tendency of attracting all sort of interests; his former Robin and his current lover had probably the most legitimate reasons for their interests. Nonetheless, Oliver still felt a shiver as he remembered some much less legitimate reasons people had been interested in Bruce. Some adventures were better forgotten, he thought, as he tried to pushed back the bad aftertaste the thought had risen in him.

Red Robin took a step forward to stand beside Catwoman, "He won't change his plans because of you". The teenager seemed to read through Oliver's mind as easily as a kinder garden book. The archer was a bit vexed a teenager and a burglar could see through him, "No, he won't. And we won't know what they will communicate to one another. That is probably why he does not care whether we know".

The three of them turned to observe the Manor. The isolated mansion stood rebelliously against a forest and a garden, seemingly contesting the death the town had placated him to. The lights in the Manor, who should have brighten the place, in some strange ways, managed to make it look even more abandoned. The majesty of the place was tainted by a memory so painful all of Gotham wanted to forget. Yes, I may be haunted, the Manor seemed to reply to the town, I may be lonely, still I thrive as the prickly rose does, do not underestimate my tenacity to hang on.

Under the three masked persons' watchful eyes, Bruce Wayne strolled out of the Manor, picked up a car and drove a magnificent blue German car. On a sign from Green Arrow, who seemed in charge of their operation, the three observers jumped in their respective vehicle and followed Bruce from a discrete distance. None of them had any difficulty following him all the way to Penguin's Iceberg lounge. Oh no, Oliver thought, Oh no, not again. He mentally cursed his friendship with Lex and Bruce. Why do they always do this? I can't believe I forgot that aspect of their friendship...

I can't believe I forgot how Lex and Bruce behaved when they acted as very good friends, Oliver groaned loudly. They always got into trouble and now that they are both a lot more experienced and powerful, the trouble they will seek will be at least ten times worst than before! I can't believe they are both walking on Penguin's turf as their powerless identities and making trouble..., Oliver thought as he noticed Lex's limousine in the special parking space. Why was I friends with them again?, he lamented.


	8. BlackJack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor are playing at Penguin's casino. The evening is...interesting.

For Oswald Cobblepot, happy coincidences were very suspect. 

The day he had gotten his favorite toy and his teacher had complimented him? He had been almost beaten to death behind his school. The day he had managed to get away with ordering a murder with the police and Poison Ivy sold him a precious penguin related artifact from the Gotham museum? That same day, Batman and Robin confronted him with proof of his murder and Poison Ivy betrayed him for Two-Face. The day he had escaped from Batman and caught Catwoman in the act of stealing from him? The Joker had set fire on his casino for no good reason and Catwoman had escaped in the distraction. 

Oswald could accept something good could happen to him, but if it happened twice in one day, he had suspicion everything would go south.

Therefore, when the businessman had noticed Lex Luthor's presence in his casino, Oswald was happy. He had tried his whole life to attract billionaires to his club and even if Lex Luthor had a certain reputation as a businessman, he was still considered 'clean' by the authority and part of the public. The bald businessman's presence lent a certain legitimacy to the Oswald's casino. Lex Luthor had never set foot in his casino prior to that day. 

Oswald greeted Luthor himself and made sure everyone of the staff knew to take extreme care of Lex Luthor even if rumors claimed he was corrupted.

When Bruce Wayne set foot alone on the Iceberg's premises an hour after Lex Luthor, Oswald was overjoyed. He had tried for years to convince the playboy to play at his casino. Not only would the idiot lose all his money to him, he had a reputation as a legitimate businessman (if not also as an idiot) and a celebrity. His presence would attract people from all walks of life. He was practically royalty in Gotham. 

Nonetheless, Oswald's wariness was also heighten. Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne were in his establishment at the same time after years of refusing his invitations? This fell into Mr. Cobblepot well established superstition something bad was bound to happen. 

*** 

"Do you see them, Purple?", a voice asked Selina Kyle. It had not taken them long to figure out who to send for reconnaissance; Red Robin was a minor and Oliver Queen would attract too much attention as the third billionaire frequenting the Iceberg lounge at the same time. Even if Catwoman was the most familiar face to Penguin, she could disguise herself very well and infiltrate the casino. She also knew the premises like the back of her hand. This time, she had disguised herself with a blonde wig, purple eye shadow, brown contact lenses and a long evening dress. She affected an accent from Belgium and made sure she walked a bit clumsily in her high heels. 

"I do. They just greeted one another with a hug at the black jack table as if they were old friends", Selina murmured back obscuring anyone from seeing her mouth move. A pause greeted her affirmation. "They are old friends", Oliver finally said. Selina had failed to comprehend how exactly Bruce and Lex could be friends. It was an oversight she was more than eager to overcome. She had suspicions Tim was also having difficulty with the concept. She knew Bruce and Clark were best friends. That relationship was twisted enough without trying to imagine Lex the supervillain and Batman the superhero hanging out together and boasting about who was the biggest jerk (was it what they did?). The image was too disturbing.

"Is Red in place?", Selina asked. Red Robin answered a succinct, "I am". "So, Green, what do you think they will do here?", Selina asked discreetly. A sigh answered her, "Well, trouble obviously.They will make a lot of trouble if what they were doing twenty years ago is any indication".

Bruce and Lex sat down at the same blackjack table.

Mr. Cobblepot was walking very closely to the table and the usual customers were all looking at said table. The spots at the table filled up very quickly. Everyone wanted to rob two billionaires blind. Bruce was flirting with the girl beside him while Lex was talking business with the fellow beside him. If only they knew in how much danger they were in, Selina thought wryly.

The game went on for half an hour. Lex and Bruce were winning almost all hands between the two of them. Lex made of show of trying to appear intellectual and Bruce made his of being distracted by women and playing without looking. At that time, the other customers playing blackjack were all frustrated the billionaires were getting richer and irritated with Lex's boasting of intelligence and wit and Bruce's incoherent stories about bars, girls and dangerous animals. Bruce also told jokes no one found funny while Lex's boasting was not even punctuated with jokes. Mr. Cobblepot was leaning forward, whispering to his dealer about why he wasn't cheating correctly when the lights went off.

"What happened, Purple?", Green Arrow's voice asked Selina. "The lights are off. Was that your doing, Red?", she replied. "No", came the answer. All of them silently prayed it was Bruce's doing and not other villains trying to attack the casino while both Bruce and Lex were playing Blackjack.

The backup generator did not start right away, which meant someone had disabled it. Selina could probably have repaired it, yet she preferred to remain as a witness in the vast hall. Cellphones lights were produced a bit everywhere, including where Bruce had been sitting. Selina saw him trying to start a program. Unfortunately for everyone there, Bruce's cellphone started blasting heavy metal rock, drowning down any conversational attempts. Some customers were trying to make him shut it down, but he couldn't hear anything they said and he seemingly inadvertently increased the volume. Selina was surprised manufacturers even produced cellphones with that amount of sound. It was probably custom-made.

Green Arrow could only helplessly hear heavy metal rock from Selina's comm. Red Robin was doing the perimeter, hoping no villains were coming in.

After a few moments of concerns customers screaming or gesticulating to Bruce's baffled face, someone tried to remove his cellphone from his hands and break it. Bruce's face turned petulant while he hid his cellphone on his person. When doing that, the light his cellphone was creating shut off and the customers were left trying to find him in the dark. Selina had put her goggles on and she could see Bruce disappearing under the table as she heard the others crashing and holding up their own cellphone. It was chaotic and the music did not lessen the pandemonium taking over the casino.

Well, Bruce always knew how to make a scene, she thought. Now, what was he doing? She could not see nor hear where he had gone to.

She cautiously walked around, stumbling only once on a man. Ten minutes after the beginning of the blackout and nine minutes after Bruce's escape, the light went back on. Lex Luthor sat where he had been previously while Bruce was trying to find his dropped cellphone under the table, still playing hard rock. Penguin sent hand signals orders to make sure nothing had been stolen from guests, had asked his guards not to let anyone out or in for the moment and had ran to his security box. A few moments later, while Lex generously helped Bruce take the music off his cellphone, Penguin ran, distressed and angry in the room, "Who has it?", he screamed. Someone near him asked him what was missing. Penguin, eyes bulging, ordered his security guards to find his diamond, searching everyone in the room if necessary.

"A missing diamond?", Selina repeated in her comm. She heard Green Arrow stilled over the air before saying, "Purple, Red, discreetly look if you have it in your possession". Both Selina and Tim were astonished by the request but they did it anyway. "I... seem to have acquired Penguin's criminal association ledger", Tim's hesitating voice said. "The diamond... is in my purse", Selina slowly whispered back.

"Damn it Bruce and Lex, I can't believe you did it again!", Oliver's angry voice resonated over the comm. "I am getting out of here", Selina said. "Do you need help?", Tim asked. "A small distraction would be perfect just now", Selina answered as the security guards had finished looking for the diamond in the busy half of the room. Selina had the time to see Bruce taking in his earnings while laughing to Lex about the blackout in which he had almost broken his neck. He had apparently wanted a coffee and had stumbled down the steps when Alfred had told him he was not making coffee in a blackout. Lex smiled at the joke while smoke began filling the hall. Thank you Tim!, Selina thought as she scrambled to the backdoor exit while security guards were busy fending off batarangs or something similar.

Selina, Oliver and Tim met up at their rendezvous point. Selina was obviously upset someone played the thief card against her and Tim was disturbed Bruce had put him and Selina in danger for the equivalent of a prank. Well, not exactly a prank since the ledger would be helpful for the arrest of a whole network of criminals, still, Bruce had played some games with Lex with Selina, Oliver and Tim as pawns. Nonetheless, Oliver's face was the worst. He looked disappointed, angry, betrayed and something like envious.

"Bruce is so going to pay for this", Selina finally said. "Hasn't he already?", Tim asked, "Isn't the diamond both the prank and the apology?".

"Tim, you are a smart guy, but you should know I have my pride. I steal my own things", Selina explained.

Oliver suddenly barked a laugh. The two others looked at him concerned. "Well, are you satisfied now? That's what they do as friends. Does it answer some of your questions", he finally said. "No, it does not", Tim cut in, "When and where did they make the plan?". Oliver looked down at Lex and Bruce getting out of the casino, "They did it at the Blackjack table, though I guess Bruce prepared for a blackout beforehand". Selina stared hard at Bruce, "Were their annoying tales coded?". Oliver shook his head, "I don't think so. Not if they are still doing the same thing as they were doing before". The three of them glared at the two billionaires below.

***

Mr. Cobblepot had been right in his superstition, yet he could not draw any satisfaction in it.

He had lost an irreplaceable diamond and his ledger. The ledger had been found missing long after the diamond. He was in so much trouble. Even if he, himself, could probably escape the jaws of justice, his criminal associates would not and they would probably know it was his fault.

However, the diamond and the ledger were not his only losses. Some of his clients had been vexed by his forceful search and the batfamily attack. Finally, the casino lost a million dollars at the blackjack table with Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne. Neither had seem impressed with his way of running the casino. Mr. Cobblepot had overheard Lex Luthor saying to Bruce Wayne he had no idea casinos were that dangerous and that he had never been attacked in one before. Bruce Wayne had replied there was a pitiful tolerance of good music in the casino and the girls weren't so sexy.

Overall, this was one of Cobblepot's worst nights and he was glad it was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be about Superman, Green Lantern and J'onn J'onzz stuck in the past.


	9. Making Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> J'onn, Hal and Clark try to make friends. With their life experiences and knowledge of all the persons in question (except Helena), this should be easy...

"Bruce, Lex, Ollie and Helena are all heading to some kind of warehouse, not too far from here", Clark suddenly said, interrupting Hal's tirade about martyrdom.

"Finally!", Hal exclaimed, standing up suddenly, ready to go.

J'onn lifted one hand, "Before we go, what is our plan?".

Hal and Clark exchanged a look. "We let you talk", Clark answered and Hal finished with, "And we don't say a word or make an action you would not approve". J'onn stared at them, prompting them to finish what they learned by rote in the last past hour. "And since we clearly aren't using our best judgment in this case, we let you decide the next plan of action".

J'onn's hand dropped, yet his stare still continued to blankly pierce them. "We know, we know", Hal said, raising his arms dramatically, "we are worthless worms squirming at your feet... Now, can we go?".

Clark elbowed him in his rib-cage. "Wow! It is true you are weakened! I almost didn't feel it". Clark looked at him suspiciously, "Hal... I'm used to pretending I am human. Of course, I won't hurt you if I don't want to". Hal could swear a hint of a threat was sneaked in there, but he couldn't just believe Clark would threaten him.

Well, J'onn was mad so why not a threatening Clark? This was a superb trip to get to know his teammates... and Lex Luthor. Hal was already missing his timeline.

After some last glances, the three superheroes made their way to the abandoned warehouse, J'onn's disguise flickering on and off.

They heard someone coming their way and J'onn placed himself in the shadows so nobody could see his green skin and alien features. Hal and Clark stayed in the clearing to avoid looking even more suspicious. 

A blond guy with no goatee walked in the clearing and Hal and Clark were so happy it was Ollie that was coming to their meeting and not an angered Bruce nor a wary Lex. At least, this fun version of Ollie could be reasoned with. 

He grinned at them and lifted a hand, "Hey!"

J'onn mentally gave his permission to Clark and Hal to address him as it was unlikely even they could mess it with him.

"Hey," Clark waved back, "Sorry about all the disturbance earlier. We weren't trying to pick a fight."

Ollie cocked his head, "Oh, don't worry about it. Both Lex and Bruce tend to be overly cautious. They were talking about you guys having 'superpowers'. That's kind of hilarious." Hal and Clark tried to chuckled naturally. At the slightly confused look Ollie was sending their way, they both stop pretending. 

"We noticed they were... wary of us. Are they always like that?" Clark asked, trying to distract Ollie from their own particularities.

The blond walked a few steps forward until he was at a more reasonable distance to engage in talks, "They like their conspiracies. For some time, Bruce actually thought the Court of Owls fable was real. Thankfully, he grew out of that phase. Now, he believes there is some sort of League of Assassins murdering people and making it look like accidents. Well, compared to Lex's theories, it does seem plausible."

"What are his theories?" Hal pipped in, shifting from foot to the other.

Ollie chuckled, "He... believes the comet shower in a small hick town in Kansas is responsible for strange phenomena. And that an alien might even be living there in hiding."

Bruce and Lex were already dead on with their conspiracy theories and they were still attending University. Hal and Clark exchanged a glance. Hopefully, Ollie would be easier to fool. 

"So, what are they going to do, now?" Clark asked. 

"Don't worry about them," Ollie responded with a gesture, "Talking them out of an idea is almost impossible. It is easier to go along with it and let them prove themselves wrong."

"Are you playing along with them?" J'onn interfered. 

Ollie nodded, "Yes. They wanted me to distract you until they've worked out how the magic object works." He shook his head fondly, "Magic object. They really are kids at heart with such fertile imagination." 

The three individuals from the future had a very bad foreboding sense. Bruce and Lex were playing with a magic object that could grant wishes. Nobody wanted to live in the world either of them would conform to their wishes.

J'onn sent a telepathic message to the other two, "We need to hurry, I sense they are causing a disturbance."

"Can you bring us to them?" Clark asked urgently.

"Whoa man, relax. Let them examine it and try it. They'll realize how absurd they sound."

Hal didn't waste more time trying to change Ollie's mind as he rushed toward the warehouse. Clark started running while he heard J'onn wise mental warning, "It might be a trap. Don't make hasty decisions. I am coming along."

No matter, they had to get to the goal before a catastrophe could happen. 

As Hal ran into the exit of the warehouse, he also ran straight into a pipe and fell on his back, "Ouch."

Bruce came out with the pipe, pointing the jagged end at the brunette's throat and looking between Clark and Hal, "Don't you move or I'll open his throat up."

Hal tried to negotiate something, "Come on, are you really going to kill me here because you are mad at me?"

Bruce's glare his way was murderous, "I will kill without hesitation," he paused, dramatically, "in self-defence if you attack me as you are both apparently more powerful than me."

"I think there is a misunderstanding," Clark tried to reason, his hands open to show he was not a threat. He wasn't sure he could disarm Bruce before the teenager could perforate his friend's windpipe. Especially with how his powers were unreliable at the moment.

Bruce glared back, "No. Stay where you are. Both of you."

Ollie finally got to the scene and seemed more embarrassed than worried about Bruce's behaviour, "Man, Bruce, you really cannot take a joke from anyone. They are cool guys. Just remove the pipe, carefully, okay?"

The teenager replied, incensed, "You were supposed to gain us time and you barely got us a minute! I knew we couldn't count on you!"

Ollie sighed and walked forward, surprisingly fine with approaching a mad Bruce threatening a thirty-something man with a pipe. "We talked about this before, Bruce. Threatening everyone you meet is not a good way to make friends with them."

The teenager still glared at him, but let him approach without making any dangerous actions. 

Ollie offered his hand, "Give me the pipe. We wouldn't want a repeat of last year's incident, would we?"

Bruce flinched at the reference and weighted Ollie's trustiness with his eyes before he declared, "Fine. But you are now involved with this. You are seeing this through."

Ollie breathed out exasperatedly, "Bruce, why are you always dragging me in this kind of stuff? I've got an essay due in five hours."

"No deal, then. You knew about that essay for weeks and you didn't even start on it before now," Bruce bit back angrily.

Hal had enough of their bartering his safety away, especially since his value was apparently less than a stupid essay, "Ollie, come on. Don't let psycho here cut me open because of stupid homework."

Ollie considered him, "But I need to pass it for the credit. I'll fail for sure if I don't give it."

Clark had to ask, "Why are you even failing your course? You seem bright enough to pass any course."

Bruce scoffed at that, "Trying to butter him up? You must be even dumber than I thought."

Ollie cracked his neck back, "We should have stalled enough, right?" 

Bruce nodded, "Lex finished doing his part a minute ago."

"You were fu**ing stalling us all this time? What the hell, man! You don't threaten people on whims!" Hal almost yelled as the pipe was removed from his windpipe. 

Bruce went down to Hal's eye level, "Don't. Ever. Go. Through my stuff. Again."

Clark thought Bruce had the mafia impersonation down pat. Too bad it wasn't a joke.

"As if I would listen to a kid's order!" Hal answered back. He stood up and shook the dust off. The brunette tried to send a glare Bruce's way, but it was so ineffective, Ollie coughed to distract the ongoing staring contest, "Now that you made up and are friends again, why don't we go see what Lex has done?"

Kal moved forward and squeezed Hal's shoulder in a reminder they were not supposed to pick fights with this timeline's Bruce. 

Bruce raised an eyebrow at their subtle exchange and turned to Ollie, "You are now officially involved."

"Man, can't you just let me out of this crap?" Ollie pleaded. 

Bruce turned on his heels and walked into the warehouse, "No."

Ollie sighed and followed him, Kal and Ollie close behind. 

They walked a good ten meters before Ollie yelled up, "Lex?" 

No answering sounds were made. 

Bruce glowered at Ollie. 

"What? I can't remember all the passwords you keep making up to ascertain identities. Seriously, nobody can look and sound that much like us.

Bruce growled out, "a maiore ad minus."

A voice answered from above, "a minore ad maius."

A rope was thrown down from somewhere similar to the ceiling, but Bruce stopped Clark from taking it with a gesture, "Sop9067839," he called out.

"Mki4573215," Lex's voice answered. 

Bruce frowned and turned to Clark and Hal, " 'Thomas' and 'Allen', where is John?"

Hal ('Allen') shrugged while Clark ('Thomas') looked around, taking a good ten seconds to figure out Bruce was addressing him. 

"Hey, does it matter Bruce? We should go and see the result of the experience," Ollie said while he was playing with the rope.

A rope ladder was dropped from the ceiling and Bruce ran up, followed by the grimacing Ollie ("I always get splinters in the hands"). Hal and Clark followed them more cautiously, not trusting Bruce not to cut the rope ladder holding them up in the air. 

Clark was impressed with the setup. Whoever had made this hiding spot knew how to be discreet. They had built a second ceiling below the roof in such a way anyone looking from the outside or inside would believe the ceiling and roof was the same thing. Unfortunately, it also meant it was not a fun hideout as the roof was not high above their heads and it was uncomfortable to move as the angle of the 'floor' was crooked as the ceiling had looked from the outside. Nonetheless, this was a very inconspicuous looking hideout. 

Helena, J'onn and Lex were waiting for them, all seated in strange looking seats. 

"How did your friend get there?" Ollie, asked, clearly confused. 

"He passed through the wall. Apparently, he is a Martian with the capacity of going through objects and changes his appearance," Lex answered, looking surprisingly relaxed. Clark could remember how obsessed Lex had been with seeking aliens in Smallville (or rather, will be? This was so confusing...). His younger self had thought his friend was a xenophobe, but, seeing this situation, he was second-guessing his earlier conclusions. Who was this Lex who was friendly with Ollie and Bruce and who accepted aliens into his life this easily?

Ollie laughed, "Those are pretty impressive powers." Bruce took time dissecting 'John' with his eyes and he simply nodded in Lex's direction, some sort of understanding passing between them. Clark then figured out Bruce had known J'onn was in their hideout, because of their passwords, and he had asked them if they knew where J'onn was, only to test them.

Clark felt uncomfortable with Bruce's and Lex's interactions as if they were always thinking a few steps ahead and they understood where the other was with the planning. 

Hal broke in, "All this is nice, but I really should get my ring back. I don't know when I'll get attacked by psychos again." It was clear, even to Helena, he meant Bruce. 

Lex shrugged and got the ring out of his pocket. Hal brought his hand to take it, yet, something was blocking his action. 

"What is this?" Ollie had placed himself just behind Hal's elbow. 

"Why can't I take it?" Hal snarled in amused Lex's direction.

The young man quirked an eyebrow in Bruce's direction, "It's his idea and it is pretty ingenious. I simply helped Helena wish some very specific wishes. We can't really trust any of you timeline travellers, especially if you have hands on the strongest weapon in the universe, can we?"

Before Hal could start another fight with Bruce, J'onn interjected, briefly flickering in his Martian form, "Alexander Luthor has been most helpful in recognizing the drawings on the items and I believe we can make an alliance in figuring the rest out."

Bruce sat on the ground and turned to Ollie with a I-told-you-so-look on his face. 

The dumbfounded man finally closed his mouth and opened it again with an exclamation, "Bruce, are they really aliens?"

Hal answered, "I'm not! I'm a human."

Ollie stared at him, "Wow. Are you really human?"

"Yes, you..."

Lex chuckled over Hal's outraged exclamation, "He is kidding."

"Enough jokes," Bruce cut in darkly, "I want them out of here they can make a bigger mess of everything."

Clark was actually hurt by his haste in getting rid of them, "Hey, we are trying to save the world, not ruin it."

Bruce glared at him, giving him more attention than he had since their escape from his room. 

The reporter was unsure how to address his best friend in this timeline. He seemed more volatile, more out of control and angrier than Clark had ever seen him before. 

Nonetheless, he seemed less secretive about his feelings. Clark had wanted to gain information about Bruce's past, but, maybe he could better than that. Maybe, he could change his friend's disposition towards him. Bruce was more vulnerable now. Clark almost wanted to...

"I propose you hear Alexander Luthor's plan concerning the artifact," J'onn intervened. He also sent a private message to Clark, "Stop it, Kal El. You are projecting your thoughts very loudly. As much as you want to do it, I suggest you stop trying. We should not try to change anything in this timeline, if possible. A simple mistake might destroy our entire timeline."

Clark pushed forward a clear thought to respond, "What are you talking about, J'onn? I am not trying to do anything."

J'onn did not respond, but Clark could physically feel his unease at the situation. The reporter could not understand why. They had finally made 'friends' with Lex, Bruce and Ollie. Wasn't that their goal? 

Clark was not crazy enough to ruin this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "a maiore ad minus" means "from the greater to the smaller" in latin
> 
> "a minore ad maius" means "from the smaller to the greater" in latin  
> Both taken from wikipedia.
> 
> Sorry, it took this long to continue this story. I've been busy posting other works. I'll try to update this story about once a month, but I can't promise I'll manage to keep that schedule.


	10. Poison

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In order to faciliate the reading, please remember that, in the past, each superhero has a given alias:
> 
> J'onn=John  
> Superman (Clark Kent)=Thomas  
> Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)= Allen
> 
> Sometimes they are called by their names, sometimes by their alias.

Past...

Ollie is discussing with interest with J'onn while Helena whispers into Bruce's ear at the other hand of the hideout. Hal used his considerable skills to make paper aircraft that actually fly straight. Superman tried to avoid squirming under Lex's curious eyes carefully judging him from the other side of the room.

"Are you ready to bet I can hit the wall from this distance with the airplane, Sup-I mean Thomas," Hal asked him, clearly going mad with the boring serious business the others were attending.

"Uh, I don't think that is a good idea," Superman replied.

"Do you have any other suggestions? The genius over there are seemingly resolving all our problems and J'onn insists we stay clear of Bruce, Helena, Ollie and Lex. That doesn't leave us much to accomplish. At least, I did manage to get my blackmail material against Bruce."

"Did you really?" an amused voice interjected from closer behind Clark and Hal than either of them had estimated.

"I sure did," Hal proudly answered.

Lex crossed his arms,"You are an ignoramus."

Both Superman and Green Lantern stared at him in astonishment. Until now, Lex had mostly left Ollie and Bruce in the mediator and aggressor role respectively. Compared to Bruce, Lex seemed polite and reasonable.

"What?" Hal stood up with his fists ready. Lex arched an eyebrow at the fists and looked wholly unimpressed with the intimidation practice, "I called you an idiot or didn't you understand that too?"

"I understand insults. I just didn't know you were looking for trouble with me," Hal answered.

Lex sighed, "You are a complete imbecile. Think about it: why would Bruce hide his porn stash in his cupboard where any simpleton could find it within five minutes?"

That had actually been one of Clark's question; Bruce hid much better his secrets than that. He noticed Lex examining his expression and he tried to smooth it over.

"He's a teenager. It's normal to hide his interest in sex. Every kid goes through that, or are genius somehow impervious to sex?" Hal answered sarcastically.

Lex stared at Hal, "You are simply proving you are a discourteous cretin. Both of you obviously know him in your timeline or world. You know he is not a normal person. He is completely paranoid. If there was something he was hiding, it would be better hidden. Why else would he put an unused magazine to be found by the first curious student? It's obviously a ploy to catch anyone looking through his room. The magazine is the bait."

Clark could see Hal's face transform with the realization it was true. The magazine didn't even look touched and there had been leftover white powder on Hal's hands after his search. It was such an obvious trap to know whether someone had searched his room.

Clark felt the weight of Lex's eyes on them and he knew they were giving too much information to the younger man. Time to even things out. Clark had learned more than a few tricks dealing with older Lex and Bruce. 

"How do you know that?" he questioned the young genius.

Lex shrugged and grabbed one of his arms with the other hand, a nervous tick the man had developed in his earlier years to deal with people questioning his logical processes, "I see. Your Bruce, whoever he is, really is exactly like this one." 

Clark winced and he knew Hal also showed some sort of reaction. They were getting crushed by Lex's superior mind, although he was much younger than them. 

"That explains why he trusts you," Lex muttered under his breath.

Hal frowned, "He almost stabbed me my throat with a pipe and he threw me a punch!"

Lex shook his head, taking his hands behind his back, pacing while eying both the future travellers with keen interest,"He invited you to his room."

Hal and Clark exchanged an uneasy glance, "We might have forced his hand a bit."

Lex continued, ignoring their interruption, "He has the best instincts I have ever seen in a human. He knows who to corrupt, who to trust or buy out. His instincts are telling him to trust you, but he doubts them because he doesn't trust most people. I somewhat understand why he might trust the reliable Martian over there." The young man cocked his head in Hal's direction, "You are a competitive idiot who wants to one-up Bruce. An annoyance, but I can see why he would trust you despite that. You are childish, but not a greedy or dangerous man."

Lex's observations were scaring Hal away with their exactitude. It was as if the man actually understood Bruce Wayne and that was pretty terrifying stuff in itself. 

Lex tilted his head to concentrate his shining green eyes on Superman, "But you... you are dangerous, I can see it."

Hal could see the paleness of his colleague's face under the pressure and he knew he needed to interfere to stop whatever was going on, "Sure, he's dangerous as a teddy bear. Now, aren't you supposed to figure out how to solve the wish-thingie problem and send us back from where we came from?"

Unperturbed, Lex continued in a perilous whisper, "Your eyes, they are fascinated... That, I have seen it in other people before. But, there is something more..." Lightly, as if entranced, he touched Superman's face with one hand. Superman tried, unsuccessfully, not to flinch away. His posture became more guarded and softer at once, sweat gleaming on his forehead while his eyelids fell halfway on his eyes, obscuring the tumultuous feelings underneath. He leaned into the touch even though his fists clenched by his sides and his breathing hitched for one moment.

Whatever this weirdness was, Hal was wishing he was on a boring monitor duty again. 

He may have joked about Lex secretly making Superman and Batman's sex tapes, but Lex's obvious fascination with both older Superman and younger Bruce Wayne alarmed him to no end. This was only funny in a very twisted way.

"You are a saviour," Lex pronounced softly at Superman, himself surprised at what he was saying.

Ollie grabbed Lex's elbow firmly but not unkindly, "What are you doing, Lex? You are making them uncomfortable." Lex startled at the touch and retracted his hand, "Right. We should try our planned experiment on the artifact." 

Lex looked at the Martian, Helena and Bruce. Bruce's eyes bore holes into Lex and Superman in a way Lex had never seen before. Its almost insane fixedly was disturbing. The bald man couldn't hold back shivering. 

"Why don't we move over to my rented house? It will be much more comfortable there than here," Ollie proposed, thus breaking the strange mood in the hideout.

Bruce opened his mouth, probably to explain how that would be reckless and stupid, but Ollie knew better than to let him voice his paranoid thoughts at this jointure, "Don't worry, Brucey, they seem like good guys."

Bruce glared at him until Lex verbally agreed it was a good idea. 

Ollie could see them making their silent communication thingie they had developed years ago in order to transmit secret messages without a known pattern or language recognizable by anyone other than them and Ollie (he only understood a bit). Maybe he should be grateful they had spent hours deciding how to communicate things like "They have powers and smell for the big guy is heightened. Send the rotten orange his way to escape." 

Ollie had been too lazy to learn the intricate nuances of the mode of communication except for the obvious ones like "Trouble!" or "Run!" which were inevitably the ones Bruce and Lex used the most during their adventures. Besides, the most important aspect of the communication was that Bruce and Lex had integrated the gestures into their everyday uses. You had to know that the order of the small movements was the most important factor to understand anything. Furthermore, Bruce's and Lex's series of movements for the same meaning was completely different. 

Whatever was exchanged between Lex and Bruce in the span of 30 seconds, Bruce grunted in agreement to move the group to Ollie's rented house. 

As they walked to it, Ollie decided it was a good idea to tell the strangers some of the most hilarious stories about spending time with Lex and Bruce. He could sense Bruce trusted them and that was enough to know they could be relied upon. In addition, both Lex and Bruce had made it clear they were terrible at socialization and it wouldn't take much to make the situation explode.

"So, one time," Ollie started his tale, "Lex and I decided it was high time for us to bring Bruce to a bar to drink his first shot of alcohol."

"Isn't he too young to go into bars?" the Allen guy responded with obvious curiosity.

Ollie shrugged his shoulders, "We figured the worst they could do was to bar our entry. Well, that was overly optimist of us."

"How so?" John the Alien replied. An alien, that was soooo cool! Nonetheless, Ollie was too cool to rave about it all the time. He couldn't let sullen and expressionless (and insane) Brucey and Lexy look cool by themselves, could he?

Ollie chuckled, "This is Bruce we are talking about."

The strangers looked at him, perplexed by that. Finally, Ollie was the one who explained, "Bruce has the worst bad luck imaginable. He walks somewhere and suddenly he has dozens more that wants to kidnap or murder him. I thought you all knew that since you have your own version of him?" 

Allen, the brown-eyes brunette, cleared his throat, "Isn't it only because of his charming personality?"

Ollie chuckled at that, ignoring the secret ongoing communication between Lex and Bruce, and proceeded to continue his story, "The only thing we could say to convince Brucey here of going into a bar as if it helped him track down a gang notorious for going to a certain bar. Of course, it meant the bar was known for trouble. They let us in without issues and we ordered drinks. That's when trouble sprung up."

"The gang attacked you?" Allen guessed.

Ollie shook his head, "If only. Thing is, a weird cult tried recruiting Brucey here to a cannibal dinner or something."

"A hedonistic dinner of human bodies," Lex interjected with an annoyed tone at having to correct the story.

The blond man simply ignored him, "Bruce was trying to overhear what a member of a gang was talking about behind us and completely ignored the weird cult guys. I mean, they had white and black dresses that fell to the ground and they had red makeup or blood all over the face. They were kind of hard to miss."

"It was blood," Bruce clarified, still being his cheerfully sullen asshole self. 

"Hey! Who's telling this story? You and Lex or me? Besides, how can you be sure it was blood and not makeup? We hadn't yet started a fight in the place," Ollie exclaimed exasperatedly.

Lex arched an eyebrow at him while Bruce fell further behind the group walking into eerily quiet streets. 

"As I was saying before those jerks interrupted me, Bruce was ignoring the weird cult men and one of them was crazy enough to take Bruce's arm to try to get him to listen to their spiel."

Thomas looked in Bruce's direction, eyes furrowed. 

"It all went to hell from there," Ollie explained, "Bruce twisted the man's arm and ordered the man away from himself. The other guy got a knife out and started trying to stab him. Bruce defeated the two guys and bikers in the bar didn't think a kid like him should defeat men on their turf without consequences. There was thrown tables, chairs and knives. Thankfully, there weren't any guns used that time."

"Did you defeat them all?" Allen asked with a dubious expression.

"Well, no," Ollie answered, "cult members and biker gang members started pouring inside. Bruce was jumping around like a wildcat. Lex had disappeared in the throng of people. It was kind of my fault we had gone out to a bar that day, so I had to do something before someone could pin down Bruce and mutilate him to death or something while Lex was getting stomped to death. I calmed everyone down."

Lex scoffed, "You didn't calm anyone down. You started a panic."

Ollie paused, "You are an ingrate. I did save both your asses, no thanks to Bruce starting random bar fights."

Lex smirked, "You threw a bottle with fire on top. Everyone ran away because they thought you had bombed the place." 

Ollie looked proud, "It was one of my better ideas."

"Wait. You threw a cocktail Molotov into a crowded bar?" Thomas looked baffled, "Weren't you scare of killing dozens of people."

"No," Ollie shook his head, "I threw an empty bottle with fire on top. Nobody died."

"It was in a bar full of alcohol," Lex added. 

"Are you complaining?" Ollie questioned.

"It wasn't the best plan. We probably came very close to being burned up to ashes," Lex simply commented.

Ollie sighed, "Well, it got you both out mostly safe and sane. It was the first and last time we ever went to a bar together."

"Weren't their consequences to all that?" Allen asked, clearly curious about the ruckus they had raised in a bar. 

"During the mayhem, Lex managed to steal info from the gang member behind us. Not the biker gang. Another gang. Even though Brucey didn't get even a sip of alcohol, he was happy with the outing since he got what he wanted, even if he sprained an ankle and was bleeding all over his eyes. Lex had fun stealing things and I had enjoyed causing a panic with an empty bottle. The biker gang and the cult apparently had a turf war or something. So, yeah, happy ending for everyone," Ollie lazily concluded. "Here we are."

Superman (Thomas) looked at the enormous house in front of himself, "Wow. Your parents left you with this monstrosity for University?"

Lex added, "He's a legitimate spoiled brat."

"Love you, too, Lexy," Ollie smiled, "Now, let's all go in." 

The halls were filled with modern painting and modern furniture. They all quietly filed into the living room. 

"How do we proceed, Lex?" Ollie asked.

"Simple. Helena, come forward, closer, and put your hands on the artifact. Think about the last time you made the wish to end the world. Do you remember how it felt?"

She nodded, "I do."

"Can John read your thoughts now? He won't try to dig deeper," Superman (Thomas) interjected.

Helena hesitatingly looked at Bruce, standing, arms crossed against the wall. Without another word, he walked closer to stand beside her. Seeing this, Helena nodded in J'onn's direction, although she was still shaking. 

"John?" Superman prompted after some time. 

"The thoughts are jumbled. I see clearly this image of Bruce and the destruction of our world, not this one. The link is uncertain," the Martian explained. 

Bruce and Lex exchanged a glance that looked like a full conversation to Superman. He couldn't stop himself from clenching his teeth together, some emotion obscuring his rational thought process. The superhero could see the nasty pleasure in Lex's look to him. This was decidedly a game of Lex's like he had done much time since their first meeting. Unfortunately, Clark had had a crush on him in part because of his mischievousness. It had seemed endearing when he was younger; it was somewhat of a revelation it still worked on him as a middle-aged man. Clark knew he was messed up to yearn to return to that time, in this Lex's future and his past, where they would investigate strange phenomena and rely on each other. 

He had Lois. She had been waiting for him at the gala... where Lex and Bruce were still playing games together. Why would it infuriate him this much? It has been a long time since he crushed on Lex... and Bruce. There was nothing but friendship or destroyed friendship in Lex's case.

"Well, it is getting late," Ollie interrupted Clark's thought, "Why don't you all sleep here? If there is something going on, we will all be near to help. Otherwise, it will be easier to think tomorrow after a good night's rest."

"You just want to finish your essay," Hal accused. 

"A guy gotta do what needs to be done," Ollie flashed his teeth. 

"No. We get them back now. We don't know how this is affecting our world," Bruce cut in sharply.

"Brucey... Relax, will you?" Ollie teased. 

Lex moved a step forward, "Bruce, it can be like one of our sleepovers..." There was some other meaning being exchanged between them. Did they sleep together? Were they a thing back then?, the thought griped Superman. He couldn't get rid of the poisonous thoughts he felt slipping through his mind. 

Nobody had told him they were more than 'friends' once, but Ollie wasn't crazy enough to admit to him if either Lex or Bruce didn't want it. Superman had to keep an eye on them to figure out exactly how they knew each other in the past. Maybe it would help him figure out their thinking in the present.

Lex smirked at him, his eyes looking more like a dare than ever.

***

Present day, morning at Wayne's Manor...

 

"Master Tim, are you okay?"

Tim slowly nodded as he struggled to find the words,"Alfred, how do you always help him? I'm tired of him keeping all of his secrets close to his vest."

Alfred carried the coffee on the table with the sugar and milk, "I'm afraid, Master Tim, there are no easy answers to that."

The teenager knew there wasn't. It still gnawed at his insides. He wanted to help Bruce, to throw a lifeline to the drowning man, nonetheless, he could see the man refusing to hang to the help and drowning on his own. It could be called a Shakespearean tragedy of pride overtaken the survival instincts. Or plain stupidity.

"There is only so much you can do to help someone who refuses help," Alfred commented as he served his pancakes. 

Damian came in and sat in front of Tim, exchanging good mornings with them and Alfred already serving him pancakes. 

"Syrup?" Alfred asked both boys. 

While Tim nodded, defeated, Damian answered verbally, "Yes, Pennyworth."

"Why wouldn't he accept help, Alfred?" Tim almost begged Alfred. Damian looked startled by the seriousness of the conversation around the table.

"I believe, Master Tim, he is scared of involving other people in his business. It wouldn't be the first time people have died because of their knowledge of his 'hobby."

"We are already involved in it, Alfred. Why would he hide it from us? We are not risking more by knowing it and we could help him," Tim answered, looking wretched. 

For once in his life, Damian didn't make any condescension remarks about Tim's obvious fear, "Father knows he can rely on us." Tim wanted to have the same confidence in Bruce; he had to consider whether it was true, because he had to planned for any contingency possible. That was the inherited role of Batman to do so.

"But, why won't he? Why would he engage in a war with the smartest man on Earth and not want backup?" Tim replied. Trying to describe Bruce solely in rational terms went around some well-hidden complex emotions Bruce was acting on. He was too stubborn to be logical.

Alfred brought the syrup to the table with the fruit bowl mixture of sliced strawberries and blueberries, "Why don't you ask him? He should be up soon as he has an appointment in the morning."

Both teenagers filled their pancakes and started eating the delicious meal in silence. 

Bruce came in, all dressed up in a suit, and buttoning his sleeve in a hurry, "Good morning Tim, Damian and Alfred."

They all answered him back and Tim hesitated afterwards. 

Bruce looked up, "What is it, Tim?"

Tim got his courage in his two hands, "Why are you doing this war with Lex? Why are you not involving us in it? We could prepare a proper counterattack."

Bruce sighed and placed a hand on his forehead, "It's complicated."

Damian stopped eating and swallowed hard, "Why not? We want to help you, Father. Be graceful and accept our help as we accept yours."

Bruce smiled at them, "You are helping by doing good on your own. In putting your attention on school and making friends. I want you both to be happy. That's why I don't involve you when it is not necessary. You don't need more risk or stress in your lives."

Tim could see the man was sincere, yet secretive in his stance. There was much Bruce refused to answer and Lex seemed to be a 'no-go' zone no matter what they asked. Bruce's interaction with Lex at Penguin's establishment suggested a myriad of issues Tim wasn't sure he wanted to consider. 

Ease of communication. Scheming experts. Thrill-seeking troublemakers. This was not exactly the words, except for the scheming experts ones, he would have used to describe them.

The watch. He could probably get some inklings about that incident if he asked Bruce now whether Lex had stolen Thomas Wayne's watch.

He opened his mouth. Words wouldn't form in his dry mouth. Or in his mind for that matter.

Bruce standing up. Blurry face. Voices calling him. 

Pain. Pancake. Poison... 

Lex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Past Lex and present Superman haven't had much interactions until now. It was time to give them the opportunity to mess things up.
> 
> Plus, the location has been changed for the last time in the past. 
> 
> Things are only going to get more intense. And, yes, it ends with one of my rare cliffhangers.


	11. Lex Hallucinates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lex hallucinates.

Present...

Lex had time to think.

Too much of it, actually.

He was bound and alone in a white room with no furniture nor natural light. This was not supposed to be for his well-being; it was a message to underline his own powerlessness.

Lex couldn't remember seeing or hearing anything suspicious before losing consciousness in his main business building.

He had woken up nowhere recognizable. 

He tried, in vain, to undo the ropes. He only managed to get them rubbing in further his skin.

He was stuck. Hours and hours on end. No food. No water. No choice than to soil his pants despite his self-control. His throat grew hoarse from yelling.

Lex was simply a mind floating in a void, disconnecting from his own body.

It might have sounded as Lex's dream, however, it was truly horrifying since it meant reality seemed more and more distant.

The other man hadn't even gloated over Lex or anything. In some ways, the silence was ten times worst than revengeful speeches. Bruce had always been a master of dramatic or meaningful silences. It was a skill Lex had never perfected.

His thoughts were panicky until he tried to calm himself. Mediation was useless.

Thinking about his plan was marginally lessening the panic the man was feeling.

The goal of the poisoned pancakes was twofold.

One, Bruce had always taken the Manor as a safe haven from which he could protect his family. His parents had died in the dangerous 'outside'. Subconsciously, Bruce had equalized the Manor as secure. By making the food Alfred had cooked unsafe, Lex had thrown doubt in Bruce's mind whether his haven was truly safe. Truthfully, the most comforting thing about the Manor, Alfred's cooking, had been shown to be dangerous to Damian and Tim.

Two, Bruce was well aware of his emotional instability. Normally, he could accept some help. Under great mental strains, he would reject everyone's help. This qualified as such an occasion. Lex knew the wild teenager he had known would, after making sure of his son's immediate well-being, send them away to protect them from Lex... and himself. This would help Lex reach the goal of alienating Bruce by using Bruce's own self-destructing habits. Lex had calculated this timely move would tip the balance in his favour.

The biggest problem dealing with Bruce was his unpredictability hidden under layers of order and rationalization.

Calm down, Lex mentally told himself, Bruce won't kill him... At least, Batman wouldn't even if Bruce could. This was simply revenge for the poison Lex had paid Talia and her assassins to ingest into Bruce's two sons living with him. It hadn't been cheap.

Neither had been the poison. It simply had to give the kids some short amount of pain and to make them lose consciousness. Their lives didn't even have to be put in danger.

In an effort to distract himself, Lex forced himself to remember the first time he had met the fourteen-year-old kid. Ollie had simply dragged him during recess to another section of the school, smiled and said, "I think you'll get along fine together. Bruce, this is Lex. Lex, this is Bruce." Of course, both knew the other's reputation. How could they not?

Bruce was the insane delinquent kid whose parents had been murdered in front of him when he was younger. Lex, the genius and antisocial bullied kid, was also quite famous.

Lex had looked at the smaller and leaner black-haired, blue-eyed kid scowling at him and hadn't been much impressed by the sight. He looked like a cornered animal with his claws ready to tear anyone who got too close. Lex had doubted there was even a spark of human intelligence in him.

Bruce had looked even less impressed by Ollie's introduction as he simply walked in the opposite direction without another word. Ollie had scratched his neck, "Well, that could have gone better. I was so sure you would have gotten along."

Lex had glared at his unfortunate acquaintances, "Why on Earth did you think I would go along with a kid with extremely violent tendencies? I'm the smartest person in the school, not a football player."

Ollie shrugged, "You are similar."

"How so?" Lex questioned, already insulted.

Ollie turned serious, "You are toeing the same line, trying to go as far as possible without crossing it completely." The change in his behaviour was, as always, sudden.

The only reason Lex had to deign to spend time with the annoying blond since he was the only one who could grasp some of his ideas. The teachers, even in such a private academy, were so stupid Lex was bored of correcting them every time they made a wrongful statement in class. Under all of Ollie's frivolity, there was a sharp mind that could follow about half of Lex's genius ideas. Moreover, Ollie had much better social skills that lent some immunity to Lex's antisocial behaviour.

Ollie may be a fool looking for fun in ridiculous ways, he was still the closest Lex had as an accomplice or a helper in his theories' testing.

"What line are you talking about?" Lex asked, somewhat confused since Ollie had deviated from the script. In reality, he had only dragged Lex to lunch with a knowing smile.

Ollie's curled lips almost looked sinister with the way the shadow hid his face, "Bruce is driving you insane. Again. Isn't he?" That was not a memory. Lex felt his feet cemented on the spot.

"I..." Lex started.

Ollie let out a demonic laugh, looking less and less like Ollie, and more and more like Lex's sister, Lena, "You always think Superman is the threat to humanity, however, isn't Bruce more the threat to your humanity?"

Lena, now standing in an empty hall, smiled angelically, "That's why you keep losing to him. No matter how much you win, brother. I told you; you need to keep your distances from him."

Lex felt his body was returning to that of a young child.

"If you don't listen, Lex, I'll tell daddy about it," Lena giggled as she had never done in her life.

"Lena!" he called out. The hallway transformed into a street. Older kids started picking fights with him. Lex felt the dull pain he had always felt when his father had beaten him up. He would neither get to conquer this world like his namesake. He would die, wasted potential bleeding on a sidewalk nobody had noticed.

That's when the fourteen-year-old Bruce came to his rescue, flashing around with an agility and grace Lex admired. He would never be that graceful and confident in his body. He was Lex, the kid destined to wage wars with his brain, not his body.

"That's all it took, you know, Lex," Lena mocked, "for you to fall. You wished he was smart like you and, by some sick God's idea of a joke, he was that too."

Bruce finished beating the kids, his eyes glinting with delight in violence and he turned to awe-struck child Lex, "Get up. We shouldn't stay here."

Lex took Bruce's hand and they sprinted away. From the corner of his eye, he could see the different scenes playing around. They were running from gangsters, mafioso, weird cults, killers... All the strange adventures Bruce had dragged him in, with Ollie, on occasion. He knew in his mind it was foolish to follow Bruce's way. It was perdition, the voice kept saying. However, it was fun!

They invented a special language only they used, with small contributions from Ollie. They played hide and seek with dangerous criminals. They stole and beat them up, just for some obscure reason that only made sense to Bruce. Lex was the mastermind behind their little expeditions, giving roles to Bruce and Ollie. For Lex, this was the most fun he had ever had.

"Ask him," Lena whispered.

An eighteen-years-old Bruce was still clasping Lex's hand. He was still as awkwardly antisocial with people as before but his childish grace had let space for a teenager to grow.

Ollie yelled from behind that they needed to split up.

Lex held on to the hand, "Bruce."

The blue eyes rested on him, waiting for his decision.

"There's a chasm here. We should turn now."

Bruce didn't blink, "I'll jump across. You can come."

Lex shook his head, "Neither of us can jump that far." He felt the churning of his stomach with overdeveloped senses.

Bruce's eyes shone in the dark, eerily otherworldly, "It's time for us to be more than humans." Lex reluctantly let his hand go.

Bruce shook his head in disappointment, jumped and fell through the chasm. Ollie and Lex looking at his fall in horror. "Is he dead?" Ollie asked in worry when they couldn't see the body falling.

"He can't be," Lex answered, shaking, so used to Bruce's impossible feats.

"Why did he jump?"

"You never did get around to ask him that, did you, Lex?" Lena's sweet voice whispered in his ears.

"Shut up," Lex covered his ears.

"You didn't want him to say he hadn't coped with his parents' death. Time was stuck still for him ever since then," Lena continued. "Time nobody could restart," she scoffed at him.

"SHUT UP!" Lex yelled at his imaginary sister.

"He's a monster. He'll always be a dangerous monster," Ollie commented, "But you are a dangerous human, Lex. You are the more civilized half of the same mind. When you are together, you both revert to your destructive nature. Let him destroy himself. Don't get dragged in. He'll kill you again."

"I need to stop hallucinating... I need to stop hallucinating..." Lex mumbled under his breath. This was Bruce's revenge, he remembered, for poisoning his two sons. Playing with Lex's mind. Since it was his biggest strength.

A figure came out of the chasm, a smug Superman lifting an expressionless Bruce in his arms, "Don't fall again, Bruce."

"I'm Batman. I was born by falling," Lex's childhood friend retorted.

"We are all fighting on the same side," Green Arrow clad Ollie answered, "except for Lex, of course, who's with the baddies!"

"You are wrong! You can't trust the alien 'saviour'! He'll destroy everything. That's why I will stop him," Lex yelled.

"He gave me life," Batman replied, no trace of Bruce on his face.

"He destroyed you! He'll completely destroy this world!" Lex answered.

Ollie put a comforting hand on Lex's shoulder, "Bruce was destined to die young. Superman saved what could be saved."

"He saved the hero and destroyed the man. You think it's going to stop here?" Lex gestured, incensed, "He'll destroy this world. He'll destroy me. You think I don't recognize..." The hallucination fell away like a sand castle during the high tides.

Lex could see the blank walls surrounding him although his feelings were numb.

There was a dark figure on the other side of the room, seemingly looking in his direction.

"Is that all you are going to do, bound me up and look at me?" Lex threw at the figure, his voice raspy. There was no answer.

"Let me go. I know you won't kill me. You can't scare me up. You will release me and let me go. Because you have a code," Lex continued sarcastically, "Because you have to be better than me. We both know that's just a facade."

The figure vanished from his sight.

"You think you can break me by bounding me here and giving me hallucinogens? Contrary to you, Bruce, I am not as fragile as glass!" Lex pursued.

"Aren't you, though?" A calm and roguish looking Clark Kent asked, leaning on the wall.

"Go away," Lex told him, losing what remained of his composure.

"Look at you," Clark gestured to him, "shaking in your boots. Don't you need a hand? I can help you."

"Go away," Lex vehemently replied.

Clark sighed, "That's what I don't understand. I saved you time and again. I gave you opportunities upon opportunities to change and you never did. What do you want from me?"

"You feel so self-righteous with your divine powers. You think you can come here and tell us how we should act! You think you are above us all and can grant us salvation! Don't you know the price of your supposed salvation? You'll destroy us in exchange."

Clark shook his head in disappointment.

A tile fell from the ceiling and a green-clad blond man popped his head in, "Lex? You alright there?"

Lex arched an eyebrow, "Do I look alright?"

The man studied him, probably noting his blood-shot eyes and his tired figure, "Actually, you seem rather okay for a man who managed to upset Batman. I'm coming down in a moment."

"You see," Clark now dressed as Superman told him, "some persons are still ready to give you a hand. You just need to grab it and pull yourself to redemption."

Lex glared at him while Ollie, rather Green Arrow, came down on a rope ladder, cobweb stuck everywhere on his costume. Finally, the man stood in front of Lex, "Any injuries I should know about before I try to drag you out?"

"He drugged me."

"Effects?"

"Hallucinations," Lex replied dejectedly.

"Alright," Ollie cheerfully answered while stabbing him with a syringe.

"Ow!"

Ollie typed some information into a pad that was connected to the syringe, "I'm not letting you go until we know more whether that drug may make it dangerous for you to get out of here with me."

"How long?"

Ollie shrugged, "Ten minutes max."

They waited in silence until the test was finished. Ollie then looked perplexed, "Lex, did you say you were drugged?"

"Yes."

"You're not," Ollie gave him a considering look. It took a moment for Lex to realize the implications, "I'm not suffering hallucinations of my own making."

Ollie's look didn't change as he gathered his pad and syringe.

"It wouldn't be the first time this happened," Superman calmly noted, "Even Ollie can remember the rumours from high school. The psychiatrist never found exactly how you suffered from auditory and visual hallucinations. Seems to me Bruce knows how to trigger them. I still wouldn't recommend him as your psychiatrist. Qualification issues aside, I think it would fair to say he would eventually use it against you."

"Shut up!" a frazzled Lex yelled.

Ollie held his hands up in a non-threatening manner, "I didn't say a thing."

Lex glared at the Superman hallucination. The 'god' smiled at him condescendingly, "Go ahead. Say something else. I'm sure that will convince him you are not insane. How long did it take you to convince them you weren't insane? Oh wait, Ollie likes crazy. Why else would he hang out with Bruce and you? Anyway, you should probably convince him to let you go. I doubt anyone else would venture here to help you out, especially considering how graceful you are at accepting their help."

Lex hated the fact Superman never acted this obviously superior to him in real life, that this Superman was only like that because he was the fruit of Lex's imagination. 

Ollie still looked unsure whether he should free him now or do some follow-up tests. 

Lex gritted his teeth and forced himself to ask,"How did you find me?"

"Tracer. I put one on you back at the Gala."

Lex arched an eyebrow, "Why did it take this much time to find me?"

"Easy now, Lexy," arrogant Superman casually advised, "You don't want to alienate him now. Ollie is good at cleaning Bruce's and your messes."

Ollie frowned,"You do know I'm not obliged to help you, right?" The bald man deemed it unwise to answer him.

The blond sighed loudly, "Well, Bruce placed something to block its transmission for twenty-four hours. Besides, you kind of deserved to be kidnapped and sequestered for some time considering you poisoned his two minor sons." The accompanying glower was typical Ollie disapproving getting involved Bruce's and Lex's wars.

"You did deserve that. You know what family means to him and you made sure he saw both of his youngest kids poisoned in front of him. Lexy, you are a real jerk," Superman kindly agreed.

Don't answer him; he's a hallucination, Lex reminded himself.

"Are you going to help me or are you here to goad me?" Lex answered Ollie, trying to ignore Superman flashing his teeth and checking himself in an also imaginary mirror. 

"Goad you," Superman answered while Ollie answered, "I'm not actually here to 'help you' as much as to put a stop to this stupidity."

Lex opened his mouth and Ollie did a stop hand gesture, "Don't. I'll let you go and we'll talk about your stupid competition." He added, exasperated, "You know, playing chicken with Bruce is stupid. There are really only two possible outcomes. One, you lose. Two, you both end up in the hospital with grave injuries. Bruce does not know when to stop. I thought you would know better after the last time you played against him."

"And boy did you lose that last game," Superman added, gazing lovingly at his flexing triceps. He was so self-absorb Lex wanted to strangle him. 

Ollie unbounded Lex and helped him get up the rope ladder. Lex really didn't want a dressing down by Ollie tonight, but his former friend did deserve some sort of thanks for helping him escape Bruce's wrath. 

Ollie didn't hear Lex mutter under his breath, "And when are you disappearing?"

Superman whispered in his ear, "You don't want me to go away. I'll stay to keep you company. Forever." Lex shivered at the implications. He knew obsessions could subside with considerable self-control and he knew he wouldn't exercise it to get rid of this one. At least, Lex figured, he wasn't completely alone.

Lex dragged himself in the narrow vents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems it no longer is fun and games between Bruce and Lex. Thank God for Ollie!


	12. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clark learns more than he thought he would about Lex's and Bruce's past.

Past...

 

Superman didn't need sleep. He stopped needing it when he was in high school.

Most people would see it as a blessing. They wouldn't know it would make him hear pain and suffering 24/7. Screams, mutters, prayers and cries; Superman heard it all and needed to deal with it every day. Normally, he would fly away to help them. Unfortunately, being stuck in the past meant he had to be careful with the changes they made in the past without affecting the future. Maybe they had already irrevocably changed their own timeline. Maybe not. 

Still, resting in the same house as the others meant he heard Bruce's restless movements in bed: hands fisting his sheets, legs tossing about, rapid eyeball movements and strangled cries. Mom... Dad... 

Then, the cycle restarted a bit later in the night. 

It was a nightmare. Superman felt so powerless to block the noises away and to stop it. This Bruce hadn't yet learned to block his reactions to the repeated sequence. It was as heartbreaking the first as the second time he heard it. 

Clark couldn't even pretend to sleep on the bed. He, still dressed in a t-shirt and short borrowed from Ollie, stumbled in the hallways until he found Bruce's door. He didn't know whether he should knock on the door or not. He simply sat, his back to the door, guarding it as if it would keep the bad dreams at bay. 

He was still in that position a few hours later when Lex Luthor walked in the hallway, dressed the same as the previous day, but his eyes underlined with black tiredness. 

Lex didn't even say a word as he sat beside Clark, leaning his head back on Bruce's door, a glass of alcohol in his hand.

After a moment, Clark whispered, "Couldn't sleep?"

Lex lightly chuckled unamusingly, "I can't."

"Insomnia?" 

Lex nodded, looking serious, more like the supervillain he would become than the friend Clark had worked hard to keep in the next few years of this Lex's life. 

A few minutes passed before Lex fidgeted with his glass, "Hearing him sleep also makes me feel better about my lack of sleep. At least, I don't suffer from nightmares." 

Clark studied the sincere-looking man, the one who was soon to be his friend in this timeline, the one who would never be this frank with him, the one who hid and lied to everyone. Lex was a manipulator and a superb one at that. 

Lex looked at him, curiosity and a shy softer feeling gleaming in his eyes, "Why aren't you sleeping, Thomas?"

"I don't need it."

Lex's eyes shined ominously in the dark like a cat's, "Then, what do you need, Thomas?"

"I don't need anything."

Lex sneered at the reply and sipped his drink, "Liar, that's not what your eyes say." 

Clark couldn't stop himself from asking, "What do they say?"

Lex leaned in, his lips only a few inches from Clark's ear and he whispered teasingly, bringing shivers all over Clark: "You need..."

Behind them, Bruce's movements became noisier and his erratic breathing became so loud, it startled Lex and Clark out of their compromising positions. 

"I should wake him up," Lex noted as he rose, his face resuming his serious mask while he placed down his drink beside the door, "Sometimes, he hurts himself when he grows too agitated in his nightmares."

Clark stood by and hated the helplessness he was feeling at seeing Lex act like Bruce's best friend. It was like having seen a movie, knowing which one of the characters would ultimately betray another's trust and screaming at your television to the characters they shouldn't trust them before their ultimate demise. Clark knew where this was heading and could, hopefully, stop this from going too far. Maybe he was sent back to save Bruce from Lex's clutches. 

Lex took a piece of metal from his pockets and pick-locked the handle, thus opening the door delicately. He stepped into the room and lightly headed towards Bruce's bed. He gently touched the prone figure whining and moving about and said, "Bruce, wake up. You are going to hurt yourself again."

The brunette woke with a start, hands blocking his face as if an assailant would strike him in his sleep. His hair was messed up, he was breathing heavily, his heart was pounding and his face was dripping with sweat. Clark thought he had never seemed him as vulnerable as this before. It unerved him Lex had seen it a long time before himself had.

"Bruce, it's me. You're sleeping at Ollie's place."

Bruce blinked a few times, body alert, "Lex? Is something wrong?"

Lex lifted his hands in a surrender motion, "No, you were thrashing about. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Bruce perceptibly relaxed, "I see. Thanks, Lex." 

Superman swallowed hard at the almost intimate display between Lex and Bruce. The brunette turned in his direction, having probably heard Superman making some sound, worry and alertness returning as fast as it had disappeared, "Why have you brought him here, Lex?"

Lex shrugged nonchalantly, "He couldn't sleep either."

In one fluid movement, Bruce pulled Lex on the bed with one arm while his second one had found a knife somewhere (was it underneath the pillow or on his person?) and pressed it against Lex's bare throat. The teenager's eyes threatened Superman, "Don't move."

Lex froze in Bruce's grasp, "What are you doing, Bruce?" There was a slight tremble in his voice. 

Superman searched the teenager with his eyes, remembering Bruce had done the same with Hal, "What are you doing, Bruce? Isn't he your friend?"

Bruce's eyes didn't quit squinting at Superman. They seemed almost strikingly dangerous in a way that would have worried Superman if he didn't know what kind of man Bruce was. 

The hands holding the blade to Lex's throat were steady while Lex shook, his forehead gleaming with perspiration in the darkness.

"Bruce," Lex whispered panickily, his hands almost flailing around. 

The blade was pushed further against his skin and a drop of blood was spilled. Lex stilled.

"Lex," the harsh unforgiving voice of the teenager replied, "You should have known better than conspirating against me with those good-doers from the future."

Superman showed his empty hands in a calming gesture, "We are not conspiring against you."

Bruce didn't even seem to hear him as he rambled, "I'm not getting locked up ever again."

"Stop Bruce. Don't do this," Lex pleaded, alarm clear in his voice. 

Superman was confused. Bruce had threatened Hal this afternoon and Ollie had not made a big deal out of it whereas, now, Lex seemed genuinely scared of him. It didn't add up.

Bruce stood rigid and unmoving, seemingly waiting for some sign or move on the other occupants' part. 

Clark rummaged through his memory for something to put an end to this useless confrontation. Alfred. He was the person who Bruce cared about at this point in time. 

Clark opened his mouth, "Bruce, what would Alfred..." 

He was interrupted by Lex's bulging eyes accusing him as Bruce smoothly slit Lex's throat open. 

He could see in slow-motion the blade slitting all the length of Lex's previously pristine neck. Even with the wish object damping his powers, Superman was probably fast enough to stop the movement, however, Clark was stuck dumb watching the impossible. 

The world no longer made any sense; Lex clutched his throat to staunch the blood while Bruce studied his struggle from a foot away.

Clark heard distantly, as if from another planet, Bruce whisper, "Lex, you always wanted to be first. Congratulations. You are the first person I kill."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot twist. Bruce is really Lex Luthor and Lex Luthor is really Batman! Cough cough. Sorry, that doesn't happen.


	13. Love

Present...

 

Bruce's Observational Diary (decrypted version)

 

February 19th, 19xx

-Contrary to the predictions of the specialist, the nightmares have not gone away. If anything, they have intensified. I have refused to sleep a full night in the past month. I can't stand seeing them die over and over again.  
-Alfred brought me to see Leslie even if she is a generalist.  
-She recommends I see another psychiatrist. I refuse. Alfred won't force me now, but next time, he might.  
-I need to resolve the root problem, not what they feel is the problem.

*Why are the nightmares becoming worse now that I am fourteen? Is it because I can't live with myself without seeing justice done?  
*Talk to Jim Gordon. Need an update on the case.

 

March 4th, 19xx

-Detective Jim Gordon meets with me  
-explains there is nothing moving forward about the case, but he is still on it  
-refuses to let me have a copy of the case; not for kids, he says

* I need more information. It is time I take my own responsibility.

 

March 5th, 19xx

-I make a copy of the case file and return it to its place  
-there are no obvious hints  
-footprints: none  
-motives: too many  
-person of interest: too many  
\- even with my description of the suspect, they didn't find him for the past 6 years

*Plan? Look into gangs, important families and mafia's transactional histories to see if they made a hire on that date. *Might not be a professional killer. Look at homeless centers or suspicious deaths during that period.

 

March 20th, 19xx

-Expelled from school. For the eight time in two years. Burned a teacher's lawn for publically humiliating a classmate.  
-Alfred insists I see a psychiatrist. Leslie recommends one she knows.

*Need to research important criminal organization in Gotham. Readily available information is sparse. Need inside information.

 

March 22nd, 19xx

-Excelsior. First day. Almost got suspended for beating a bully. Oliver Queen intervenes. Learn how hypocrisies win. Showing regret gets more even if it is false than the truth does.

 

March 30th, 19xx

-First meeting with that psychiatrist. Again a waste of time. Need to start gathering information. I have waited enough for justice.

* Staying mostly quiet makes you look dumb. Easy way out. Works every time. Careful not to look too hostile or they drug you more.

 

April 4th, 19xx

-First infiltration ever. Mostly successful. Almost got shot.

*Need to be invisible. Need to be stronger. Need to be smarter. Need to be prepared. Need to study their hideouts beforehand.  
*Information was useless for the case but will help me steal or gather information about other groups. Everyone has files about their enemies.

 

April 7th, 19xx

-got kidnapped to be sacrificed for a prehistoric deity god's summoning.

*I was lucky they didn't know how to bound someone with rope. Need to learn how to escape from restraints. Look up for experts. Need the best.  
*Can the cult be linked with a secret organization? Who is the leader?

 

April 20th, 19xx

-There are money transactions funding the 'school's extracurriculars' but those amounts never reach the clubs, according to Oliver.

*Be invisible.  
*Find the guilty. Look who profits from it. Need to sharpen my detective skills to find Him and his organization.

 

April 22nd, 19xx

-Alfred forced me to go to another meeting with the psychiatrist. This time, he meets with her and tells her I have nightmares. She gives drugs and asks I keep a diary of the nights I have nightmares.

*Need to find ways to fool Alfred's vigilance. Study acting is a start.

 

May 14th, 19xx

-Drugs make me sick. Again. Nightmares never go away. Keeping a nightmare diary is useless. Drugs affect my mind. Harder to concentrate on my plan.

*Refuse further psychiatric help. For the past six years, they have done nothing but exacerbate the problem and reduce my capacities.

 

May 27th, 19xx

-Second expedition. Failed before it could start.

*Need something against dogs. Need more information about the gang's hierarchy. Need to learn how to hide wounds efficiently. Almost got caught.

 

June 12th, 19xx

-Alexander Luthor, the person Oliver tried to introduce to me in March, was attacked with knives in the schoolyard. I broke one nose. Got suspended a week and had to get stitches done. Worth it.  
-someone is stalking me.

*I can't stand idly by as if nothing had happened.  
*Need to know how to defend against knives and guns. Can't be powerless.  
*practice avoiding getting my internal organs hit.  
*Need to know how to recognize when I'm being followed.

 

Bruce flipped many pages forward in the heavily encrypted diary he had kept hidden all of his life.

 

 

August 30th, 19xx

-Alfred is still angry. School starts next week. I leave tomorrow. I can move forward with my plan.

*Hide all the information in a way not even a secret agent can decode them. Nobody must know what I know. It is imperative I make sure nobody understands me. At least he didn't find this diary. It would have been much more incriminating. 

 

September 15th, 19xx

-Ollie tries to get me to forgive Lex. I refuse.

*The organigram I have made about how Gotham's organizations control the city is much more accurate than the one I stole from the police. This means justice in the city needs a complete overhaul. It needs to be swift and severe on the criminal for anything to stick.  
*His whereabouts are still unknown, but I managed to trace him to his location of two years ago. Does he have the backing of an organization?  
*Court of Owl idea was dismissed. Is there another secretive organization choosing how Gotham should change? It can't be a coincidence.

 

October 21st, 19xx

-Lex brings me information on how to infiltrate the Cobblepots's secret warehouse. Ollie refuses to help us this time. Lex plans the excursion.  
-someone drugged my water bottle again. Find them.

* Need to learn how to plan excursions perfectly without Lex's help.  
*Distraction and misdirection work well for Lex and me. Eventually, someone is going to figure out it is our main techniques. I have to find a more reliable way to disappear and to transport myself to the places I need to enter. Explosives?

 

November 15th, 19xx

-Almost blinded a girl today for drugging her friend and helping her get gang-raped as petty revenge. Princeton U wanted to expel me. I have no evidence that would stand in court. Only got suspended with Lex's, Ollie's and Alfred's help. Even if I hate it, money is power.  
-Alfred says I should not point a weapon at anyone except in self-defence or if I am ready to take that person's life. Not going back to the Manor for the Holidays even if he can't disown me.

*The exact formula to create a smoke bomb is interesting. It still needs to be perfect. The container is too big and doesn't produce it fast enough.  
*Mode of transportation: Glider?  
*Better mastery of weapons needed.

 

January 15th, 19xx

-became a hostage in a bank robbery. They were surprisingly organized for the details but lacked proper training on how to respond to surprises. Got caught because they couldn't cope with the random distractions I had created over the bank.

*Better to carefully choose and train fewer talented henchpersons than to have a dozen of them fumbling around. The key is efficiency and teamwork.

 

March 25th, 19xx

-Found Him. Saw Him.

*Monitoring Him is easier as I go along. Plan for the approach: find out if he is related to a gang. It is more reliable than a forced confession. Information given under torture is not reliable. Pity.  
*Placing a tracer on his bag was outrageously easy.

 

April 2nd, 19xx

-No gang contacted him yet. I give myself until the 25th. If nobody contacts him, I'll do what I have planned.  
-Lex is looking at me strangely. Now that we haven't done any excursion in months, he may be getting ideas.

*After the 25th, I'll be free to leave and become who I should be.  
*Reread my instructions on how to leave a country illegally. Memorize maps and itineraries to find my teachers. Look like someone else.

 

April 5th, 19xx

-Lex threw me another test to know if I would break character and prove I was smart. Someone else got hurt.

*Need to settle this. 

 

April 13th, 19xx

-Strangers pretending to be time-travellers crashed on my plans.  
*see my drawings of them below: known powers are also marked below.  
-Sophie, the girl I had saved from her drug-addicted boyfriend that same morning, was with me. I recognized her from the future (about 20 years, if I estimated properly). *Drawing also included below.  
-Wish object that works. *Drawing included below.  
-They know me, Lex and Ollie from the future (first time I see Ollie since the November incident).  
-They are a United-Nation-approved organization that specializes in stopping threats to humanity and imprisoning them. Killing is a sin according to them.  
-The one named Superman keeps glancing at me as if he was scared I will escape. Lex and he talk. They always look at me.  
-I know my time is almost up. I can't let them stop me when I am this close to accomplishing my goals.

*Is Lex's hypothesis about time travel right? The priority is to test the hypothesis. If... No. Testing it is more important right now. I can't let my feelings govern me.  
*What are the limits of the wish objects? It can destroy the future world, but could it hypothetically destroy the past?

 

April 14th, 19xx

-Lex's hypothesis is not completely proven, yet the facts do not disprove it either.  
-The man called Superman told me things I didn't want to hear. I told too much.  
-They all went back.  
-I can't save Them. The nightmares are probably here to stay.  
-Nobody contacted Him. Still needs to deal with Him before I go.

*Meditation is important. I need to be able to block my feelings. I need to be in control of myself every day for the rest of my life. Don't panic. Never panic.  
*Need to learn how to avoid telling the truth, be I tortured or not. Control my internal functions to fool anyone keeping track of them. Hold my tongue.  
*Become someone powerful even if I have to become someone else.

 

"Bruce," Selina asked from the other side of the room, "What are you doing?" Hadn't heard her come in.

He closed the tattered encrypted book and hid it in his clothes, "Nothing."

She strutted toward him, "You had nothing to do with Lex's kidnapping?"

He clenched his fists on the arms, "I did."

Selina leaned on the armchair on Bruce's left without sitting in it, giving her a height advantage over him, "Aren't you tired of doing this?"

"Some things have to be accomplished no matter how weary we are."

"Some," Selina calmly agreed, crossing her legs in a way that highlighted her sensual calves, "But a useless war against Lex Luthor should not be among them."

He had no answer.

She glanced at the drawn curtains, "It is dark here."

"Don't open them."

Selina smirked, clearly amused, "Scared of sunlight? I thought you told me you weren't a vampire."

"Garlic and sunlight are still my banes," he heard himself answer. For a brief moment, he could breathe again. He was fine. Then, she touched his cheek, slowly making his facade crumble, and said, "Sleep is your bane. We can discuss this later. You should sleep, Bruce." 

He wanted to lean on her nimble fingers and fall asleep by her side, to pretend they were a normal couple doing normal couple things. 

Batman knew no rest.

"I can't, Selina. I have work to do."

She shook her head, "I'm not asking you to stop being Batman. He's too much you, Bruce. No, Bruce, I am simply suggesting you drop this pointless fight with Lex."

He looked at her. Really looked at her. She was beautiful in the soft darkness of the room. Even with the black bags under the eyes, the scars he knew adorning her body, her sometimes loose morals and her excessive love of cats.

Her shimmering eyes confirmed she loved him.

Bruce. Batman.

Both.

He knew she wouldn't ever ask him to stop being Batman, the same way he knew he wouldn't ask her to stop being Catwoman. They had glued those identities so close to their then fragile egos; now, they couldn't undo it without ripping themselves apart.

Still, he couldn't even grant her simple request, "I can't drop it, Selina." And he was sorry he couldn't.

Selina smiled at him and kissed him in a motherly way on his forehead, hands now caressing his hair. "That's okay," she smoothly lied.

He took her hands in his, smelling her tangy perfume along the way, "It's not okay."

Her lips curled as she sat on his lap, "I don't judge you."

"Selina."

She leaned in to whisper, "Do you want me to go or stay?"

She was too sly for her own good, he thought as he caressed her hardworking hands: those, too, were growing older.

"Stay," it wasn't an order nor a plea, but a heartfelt declaration.

She fixed him, eyes a mix of serious and jest, "This time, I'll try to stay as long as you want me to."

With that bombshell, she smirked and left the room as gracefully as she had sauntered in.

She was cruel, he thought glumly: offering him to stay with him when they both knew he was frozen in time like a frog in winter. 

The watch. 

He felt his breathing hitching as, in his mind, an exact image of the watch was superposed over the image of Selina offering to stay.

He had lost the watch. 

Time was forever frozen in his heart, mind and soul. 

He shook his head. Stop that. Be strong. Be...

Batman.

***

Selina hated defeat and loving Bruce and Batman was sometimes getting beaten repeatedly over the head with a stick, literally and figuratively speaking.

She used her comms, "Purple to Green." It didn't connect. Maybe rescuing Lex meant going somewhere the comms couldn't reach.

She walked to Bruce's room. She crumbled a pillow in her hands. She had offered him more than she had offered anyone: staying for as long as he wanted. Catwoman knew better than that. You had to move around. She couldn't promise to stay. It was safer for her to never get too attached anywhere.

Selina already wanted to escape the Manor, however, she knew she had to stay; Bruce invited her to stay while he was rejecting everyone else around himself. She had even heard Alfred say he tried to get him to leave.

She relaxed at the thought.

Lex, Ollie and Alfred knew Bruce better than she did. Knowing someone better did not necessarily mean it was love.

Bruce, as cautious as he was, voluntarily chose to share parts of himself with her and wanted to keep her near; that was love.

She groaned at her next thought.

Didn't she, as reclusive as she was, also voluntarily chose to share with him parts of herself she hadn't shared with anyone else? Hadn't she even agreed to stay for him? She was a goner, Selina thought as she fell hard backwards on Bruce's bed.

She should have known better than to fall this hard in love. It was a trap she had always managed to avoid.

How many heartbroken girls had told her about their great lover before being cast aside like a sock?

But Bruce... he wouldn't do that even if they broke up. She was always the one leaving him heartbroken in his lonely Manor, never confronting him fairly beforehand.

She swallowed. Selina wanted him about as much as she feared to love him too much.

She was such a goner.


	14. A Good Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Past. Aftermath of Bruce's slitting Lex's neck.

Past...

"Lex, you always wanted to be first. Congratulations. You are the first person I kill."

The words echoed in Superman's mind as his body was rooted in place watching, as a spectator, Bruce clinically observing Lex losing his blood.

At one point, they must have made noises, because a sleepy-eyed Ollie arrived beside Superman, "What happened? Why are you standing...?"

The moment he saw the scene, his face hardened, making him look almost exactly like his older Green Arrow self. He squeezed one hand on Superman's shoulder, "Thomas, get Helena and the wish object now!"

Clark blinked his stupor away and hurried to the task. Even if his superspeed was uneven, he still managed to grab Dream Caster and the wish object, locked in a vault for added security, and arrived to see Bruce drop the knife as if obeying Ollie's order.

Ollie frowned at his friend and turned to the barely waken-up Helena, "Save him."

She trembled as she accepted the object Clark shoved into her hands, but she nonetheless closed her eyes. Lex who was now wheezing, his blood spilling all over his clothes and Bruce's bed, suddenly stopped wheezing and slowly took his hand away from his neck. It had stopped bleeding.

Lex stared foolishly at Bruce, his face still paled and bloodied while Ollie glared at the brunette with an undisguised wrath Clark had never seen on his face before. The teenager didn't flinch away from Lex's stare; instead, his eyes gleamed back with fury while his jaw locked. 

"What... What happened?" the timid girl finally asked the three actors silently frozen in their face-offs.

Instead of answering her, Ollie roughly grabbed Bruce's t-shirt in his hands, lifted the teenager up in the air and slammed the younger boy's back into the wall. The blond snarled, "That's enough! What the heck is wrong with you?" 

Through it all, Bruce, the stringless puppet, didn't even detach his furious eyes from Lex's trembling body. 

Ollie pressed him harder against the wall, "You almost killed Lex!"

Finally, Bruce barely glanced at Ollie and admitted, "I did."

"That's going too far! Don't you have any concepts of limits?"

Bruce glowered at Lex, still cowering from the intensity of his gaze.

Ollie punched him in his face, "I'm talking to you. Can't you get this in your thick skull? You can't kill people! Especially not your friends!"

Bruce licked uncaringly his bloody lips and continued glaring at the bald man. Lex seemed on the edge of unconsciousness from blood loss and trauma. 

Ollie turned angrily to Superman, still a numb spectator to this nonsense, "You're a hero, right? Can you keep an eye on this fellow?" he pointed to Bruce, "While I go give Lex a transfusion? Don't leave him alone. I don't know what kind of crazy stunt he is going to do next," he turned to the shivering and confused Helena, "I might need your hand, so, come with me, okay?" She nodded, lips trembling and eyes looking at the floor. Ollie grabbed Lex's arm and snaked it around his shoulder to help the young adult follow his lead. When Helena, Lex and Ollie were out of the room, Bruce silently stood up and punched the wall three times, his eyes burning with feverish furor, before Clark imprisoned his fist in his hand, "Stop hurting yourself."

Bruce gazed up at the face above him, "Let me go," he replied, tone hoarse, face hostile. 

"Are you going to stop hurting yourself?" Clark used a reassuring tone, the one he used with suicidal people when he was trying to talk them out of hurting or killing themselves. This was also the tone he used when Batman would abuse his health by refusing to eat or sleep for a prolonged period of time. 

Bruce tried to get out his grip, "LET ME GO." It was a useless struggle even if the teenager was wrestling more and more desperate to be free. 

"I can't," Clark firmly answered, his other hand gently squeezing Bruce's remaining hand, "until you tell me why you tried to kill him and why you are hurting yourself."

Bruce bristled and gritted his teeth, still trying to break Superman's steel grip.

Clark lifted an eyebrow at the teenager, "You slit Lex's throat after accusing him of conspiracy with us. I think that's a good enough reason to give me an explanation."

Clark had enough of the useless display of rebelliousness so he casually cradled Bruce in his arms and speeded to an empty balcony in Ollie's house where the scent of blood was less overwhelming and where, he hoped, fresh air would calm down the teenager. He released the feral teenager, who then tried to punch him in the face, and Clark intercepted the fist again and sighed, "You do know I am stronger than you. If you hit me, you'll break your fist, you know." The fires in the boy's eyes simply burned brighter as he tried to kick Clark again, snarling as he did. 

"Calm down. I'm not trying to hurt you," Clark held his other hand in the air to show he was not a treat.

"It's all your fault," the black-haired kid said.

"What is my fault? Do you want to sit down? We can talk this through," Superman calmly responded, still feeling like an animal trainer with a particularly difficult panther. 

Bruce kicked at the balustrade. Clark thought they had enough of injuries that night and stopped the foot with his arms wrapping around it. With one brutal and efficient move (that Batman had taught him), Clark threw the teenager on the soft bench, "Now, are you going to listen to me?"

The teenaged boy's damning eyes told a different story. Before Bruce could hurt himself again, Clark pinned his hands above him with one hand and put enough weight on Bruce's legs with his own legs to stop him from moving away. 

"Let me go!" The teenager growled every muscle ready for battle like a cornered animal would do. 

"Calm down. No one has to gets more hurt tonight."

The teenager snarled, "That's not true."

Clark, wary of another strike, simply kept his position above the kid without hurting him, "What do you mean?"

"It's already too late."

Clark didn't understand one bit what the kid was talking about, however, he knew that anger was one of Bruce's camouflage for his sorrows. Even though there was no sign Bruce was sad or sorry, Clark drew up the conclusion he must be. That's normally what Batman did.

Without thinking about whether Bruce would find him a creepy old man, he did something he had always wanted to do to Batman; he gently carded the teenager's hair, softly shushing him, trying to appease him.

Bruce looked at him like he was alien and, for a short moment, he seemed bewildered at the gentle attention. His voice sounded broken and hesitant when he finally opened his mouth, "Why are you touching my hair?"

"Mhm? Oh, it's just, my mother used to play in my hair when I was feeling down. I thought it would help you relax..." Then, and only then, did Clark remember he was an almost forty-years-old stranger playing in a teenager's hair while straddling him in the middle of the night. 

He looked at Bruce's sweat and blood covered t-shirt and boxers; his feverish and perplexed intense blue eyes examining him from under him; his youthful and supple body still warmed up from his fighting and itching for a fight; his heavy breathing heaving his chest up and down and the breath echoing loudly from those rose petal coloured lips...They were also tainted by Bruce's blood, leftover from Ollie's strike and, for some reason, Clark's eyes were drawn to those bloodied lips and the insane need to wipe it clean was so prominent he...

Clark jerked back, cheeks flushed, "Sorry! I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

This apology seemed to baffle even more Bruce, "You restrained me several times with your hands, carried me away without permission and you worry about putting your fingers in my hair?..."

Superman was supposed to be the mature one of the two. Here he was, being casually reprimanded by a teenager about the way he always kept touching Bruce in the first twenty-four hours they had met. What was wrong with him? 

His crush on Batman had only ever been puppy love, nothing more. Why the hell would he be thinking of how kissable teenager Bruce was from the way he lied on the bench in the moonlight? 

Clark desperately pushed away those thoughts in the back of his head and he swallowed hard. It was easier to let the thoughts go when he remembered how this version of Bruce had inexplicably just slit Lex's throat in his bedroom, "Uh, what is too late?"

Bruce raised himself to his elbows, his eyes studying him with unblinking intensity.

Clark glanced around, suddenly getting the itch to pace, "Uh, it is late. Do you think you can sleep without hurting yourself or anyone else?"

Bruce didn't answer, looking more and more like a crouching predator, his muscles highlighted by the full moon's light, than the prey Clark had caged on the bench earlier. 

"Why did you try to slit his throat? I still don't understand that part."

"What's not to understand?" Bruce cocked his head, his mussed hair moving with the movement. For a brief second, Clark wanted to put his hands back on the hair and let his hands be nuzzled by the feline that was Bruce. 

Clark sighed, bringing a hand to his forehead to test his own temperature. Of course, he wasn't sick or anything. Well, at least, not physically sick. "You are a good man. Why would you slit your friend's throat with no provocation on his part?"

Bruce chortled an ugly sound, something like a dying bird's last cheep, "I'm not a good person."

Clark shook his head, "You are."

"No."

Clark started to pace, trying to find the words to reassure him, "You might have done something horrible tonight. Still, that doesn't make you a bad person, it simply means you made a mistake."

The glint in the younger man's eyes seemed to mock him, "Even if I don't think it was a mistake?"

Clark stopped moving and whipped his head in the teenager's direction. He sternly said, "Stop posturing. You are covering your pain and sorrow with anger."

Bruce flinched at the revelation, but didn't break eye contact, "You are assuming you know me. You don't."

Clark remembered all of the usual annoying conversations he had had with adult Bruce and Alfred's helpful tip popped up: always remember where Bruce's heart is. It makes him more human. Superman closed his eyes to concentrate on the boy's heart, so similar to the one he had learned by heart, yet so different. Then, he opened his eyes to concentrate on the person in front of him, already searching for all the microexpressions he could puzzle away.

"You may not believe me, Bruce, but, in some ways, I know you more than you know yourself," Clark confidently answered, using half of his Superman's I-know-better-stance.

Bruce leaned his back on the balustrade, "That's a lie, no matter how much you think you know me in that future of yours."

Clark crossed his arms, choosing the Socratic approach to the question, "Why are you so sure you are not a good person?"

Bruce's eyes seemed incandescent in the dark, "I hurt people."

Clark shrugged,"I doubt anyone can live without hurting anyone."

"I like hurting people." The words hung simply between them. Bruce's heart rate had not changed at all.

How was Clark supposed to answer that kind of affirmation?

"Are you sure you like it? Why are you so angry and upset then?"

"He didn't die," Bruce matter-of-fact's answer sent chills all over Clark. He was suddenly very glad he hadn't kiss this version of Bruce.

He had to remember this was a facade despite the steady heart rate. Bruce wasn't really this person. He was Batman; the man who would sacrifice his life every night to stop people from hurting, the man who had raised orphans and the man who had NEVER killed anyone, not even the Joker.

"You're good, Bruce. That, I know for a fact," Clark had put every once of conviction he could gather.

Bruce laughed, not joyously but, rather mockingly, "I just slit the throat of the only person I have been getting along in the past five months. I don't feel remorse or guilt. And you say I am good?"

Clark's hated his own capacity of hearing Bruce's steady heart. He didn't want to know this was true. 

Clark shook his head, getting desperate in how to 'help' Bruce. Finally, he decided to tell him the truth about the future, "This may seem absurd, Bruce, but you are meant to be one of the greatest heroes ever."

Bruce lifted an eyebrow, "Stop lying. You didn't come back to have me 'save the world', you wanted to imprison me before I do terrible things. Before I become one of this world's biggest threat." 

"Why would you even think so?"

Bruce shrugged, "The timing. It is not a coincidence you came at this time, right? You came to stop me. And I just proved to you it was in vain you came back in time." 

Now, Clark was confused, "What are you talking about?" 

Bruce didn't even seem to hear, "I know Lex and Ollie are your friends in the future. I can see how you look at them. I know them too much not to see how this goes. They become your allies in the future and you can't seem to forgive Lex for once being my ally in mischief, of once helping me do evil. Nonetheless, you approached him to help you in your plans to stop me. I supposed you wanted the help of the smartest man on Earth to imprison me without changing too much the timeline. That would make sense."

Clark stared dumbfounded at Bruce. Why would Bruce think Lex and Ollie were Superman's allies and Bruce was his enemy? 

"I'm simply curious. What did I do in the future to make all you government-approved and appointed 'heroes' come and change the timeline? It must have been quite horrible if you probably disobeyed the basic principles you have probably established to avoid dangerous time-travelling. And I even get 'Superman', the world's greatest hero, as my jailer. I must have done something truly... frightening." 

The worst part about Bruce's strange speech was not the horrible discourse itself (as horrible as it was) but, how the man (was he even a teenager with this type of thinking?)'s quiet pride seemed to glow with the thought he had done something horrendous that warranted the best hero to break his own rules concerning time-travelling.

"Bruce," Clark had to hold to the belief this was not who he truly was. He was Batman, one of the greatest hero Earth had ever seen. Batman. Not this distorted version of his friend. 

"You don't think you can become one of the greatest heroes ever?" Clark finally said, stumbling for the right approach.

Bruce straightened his back, eyes narrowed, "Last year, Lex made some breakthrough in cancer treatments. He is the hero you are looking for. I do not care to 'play' being a hero. I have better things to do than become some United Nations' approved poster boy. I don't follow anyone else's set of rules."

Clark knew Bruce had difficulty backing down from a challenge. He shrugged, "Being hero is harder than being a villain, you know. You can never make a mistake." He could hear Bruce's ears twitch at the comment. Challenge him. Much easier than convincing him.

The teenager glared at him, eyes wild, "You are lying. This is a trick."

Clark crossed his arms over his chest and took his most impressive 'hero' pose, "It is not a trick, Bruce. Do I sound like a liar to you?"

He saw the young man opening his mouth to say yes and reluctantly close his mouth in rage. This Bruce couldn't even tell Clark he was a liar. 

***

Thank God for the genuine "Smallville" honesty Lois always said got stuck in his Superman's identity. "You know," she had one day told him, "I think most people would rather get beaten by Batman than get a lecture from you, Smallville. You seem so... perfect in that nerdy way you insist on always being a good man, that nobody wants to disappoint you."

Clark had looked up from the article he was writing, "I don't want to be the one to tell you that but, it doesn't really work. If it did, I wouldn't be fighting Lex Luthor yet again."

Lois had snorted, "Lex is obsessed with you. He doesn't want to disappoint you, just not in the way you would want." Clark lifted an eyebrow at that, "You're analyzing him again?"

Lois had smirked, "His obsession runs deep. It is fascinating."

Clark had laughed at that comment, "Aren't you the one obsessing about obsessions?"

Lois hugged him from behind, "Well, we all have to have our quirks. And you may prefer physically fighting a madman, I prefer to understand what gets under their skin and use it against them."

Clark chuckled, "Don't tell that to Bruce or he won't ever get in the same room as you."

Lois kissed his neck, "Mhmm. He knows I do it with him too. See how annoyed he gets in my interviews with him? That's almost as fun as riling up Lex with snarky comments."

And Clark had let the situation get more 'fun'.

***

Bruce turned his back to Superman to look at the moon, "Go away."

He knew he had won, "Bruce, despite what you believe, you are a good person." Clark detected the small change in Bruce's heart rate. 

"I'm not," Bruce softly answered. 

They stood there; Bruce looking at the moon and Clark looking worriedly at his future best friend. He had thought he would learn more about Bruce's life, not about this uncaring facade the other had presented him with. Not the lies he kept saying.

"Sup-Thomas, Ollie told me to get both you back down," Hal interrupted Clark's thoughts. Hal saw the way he had startled at his name being called and had thrown a quizzical look his way. 

"You are up?" Superman asked to cover up his surprise. 

Hal glanced in Bruce's direction, "Well, someone did cause a ruckus..."

"Your passive-aggressive techniques suck," Bruce snorted, with his back still to them. At least, the anger seemed to have drained out of his voice. 

"Hey, at least, I didn't just slice my best friend's throat with a knife like he was a fish or something."

Before this could escalate into another fight, Clark intervened, "Why does he want to see us?"

Hal shrugged. "Apparently," he said very loudly, "he wants everyone out of the house before someone really gets murdered."

"We should get going," Clark announced and Bruce sighed and joined them in the hallway. 

"Seriously, man," Hal whispered to Clark much too audibly not to be heard by Bruce, "Why did he stick it into Lex Luthor? Grudge?" 

Clark wanted to facepalm. This really wasn't a good time to start another useless fight with Bruce. 

"I don't know."

Hal sent him a weird gaze, "Didn't you ask him?"

Bruce was ignoring both of them as he walked in the hallway behind them. 

"I did but, he wouldn't answer," Clark replied.

Hal shook his head and muttered,"Yeah, some things never change." Clark could nonetheless decipher the unease in his body language at having a somewhat murderous Bruce trailing behind them. 

Clark turned and met Bruce's eyes. For a moment, he could see the 'madness' in the man, the part that wasn't really Batman, the part he hadn't known was there before today. Then, the eyes grew blank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the next few ones should explain why I slot 'A (Small) Grudge' as a dark comedy.


	15. Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the present time, Bruce's and Lex's war come to a close.

Present...

Ollie was bored. 

Waiting in Lex's office for Lex Luthor to shower and change his clothes was most definitively not Ollie's idea of fun. He looked around for something to do; hacking into the bald businessman's secret stuff, opening his safe or even placing some listening devices around all sounded boring. Then, he remembered one thing about Lex's habits. 

When Lex entered the room, a few minutes later, he saw a Green Arrow without his mask and ridiculous hood drinking Lex's best scotch. 

"Want some?" Ollie politely asked as he poured some more of Lex's scotch into his glass. 

Lex scowled at him and took his seat, "I didn't tell you to make yourself at home."

Ollie sipped Lex's scotch, "I have to admit it: you may be an asshole but, you have the best scotch collection I have ever seen."

Lex wanted to insult him and decided against it as he remembered the man had still just helped him out, "Just say what you came here to say and go. I don't have the patience for this."

Ollie slowly placed his glass on the desk and leaned forward, "You don't have patience? You're one to talk. You and Bruce are always trying my patience. Oh, Ollie, we don't have any friends, what should we do? That's okay, I'll introduce you to another crazy loner that I'm sure you'll get along just fine. Oh, Ollie, I don't know how to make friends, can you help me? Sure, sure, I'll come along a few time to help you out. Ollie, I accidentally hurt an acquaintance of Bruce and now he won't talk to me; what should I do? Don't worry, Lex, I'll help you patch it up with him. Ollie, Bruce and I are trying to infiltrate a mafioso's headquarter, think you can get yourself killed as a distraction? Lex, this is starting to be sound dangerous. Don't you think you should lower the danger of your games? Ollie, Bruce is becoming more and more out of control. He tortured a gang member and almost murdered him when he wasn't telling us what we wanted. Lex, don't you think this should stop? Both you and Bruce are going too far. Go away, Ollie, I know what I am doing. Are you sure, Lex? 'Cause I'm not getting involved as you both escalate things further. Ollie, we need your help... Yeah, fuck you and Bruce!" Ollie stopped making his higher voice for Lex's part and ended his recriminations with a growling voice. 

Lex lifted an eyebrow, "Are you finished with your idiotic piece?"

Ollie laughed, "Yeah, that's it. I was your negotiator and personal plumber. Each time one of you unwittingly messed things up, it was up to me to make things fine again because neither of you knew how to communicate like normal human beings. When things were going great between you, I was out of the picture faster than you can say 'thanks'. When things went south, I was always dragged back faster than you can say 'please'. I thought this was over. We're all adults now. But no, I'm still the one stuck helping you clean up this whole mess."

Lex glared, "Are you quite done?"

Ollie pointed at him accusingly with a finger, "You started this whole game, so, this time, you'll hear me say the truth. This time, I'm not helping until you listen to me. Are you listening?"

Lex reluctantly nodded. 

"Good. 'Cause this is the last time I ever help you out like this. You knew better than drag this stupid kiss incident in, yet, you still did it. Do you even have an excuse for yourself?"

Lex opened his mouth but decided against it and shook his head. 

"Good boy." Lex gritted his teeth but, stayed quiet. "At least, this time you understand this needs to stop now." 

Ollie took a sip of the scotch and leaned back, his whole demeanour relaxing and his narrowed eyes and frown disappearing, "Then, it is time you go put an end to your stupid war."

Lex raised an eyebrow at him, "Why would I put an end to it? I can still outlast him." 

Ollie smiled, "Nope. I told you, outstubborning Bruce is literally impossible. All you're doing is increasing your wounds until you inevitably throw in the towel."

"Outstubborning is not a word," Lex dryly noted. 

Ollie shrugged, now appearing wholly relaxed and amiable, "It should be. Doesn't change my point. Playing chicken with Bruce is stupid and you're not stupid, just greedy and spiteful." 

Lex cringed at the idea of telling Bruce they should put an end to it, "Have you already visited Bruce?"

Ollie twirled his glass around, sloshing the expensive liquid about, "No. Selina did, though. I told her it was useless." 

"So, you came to talk to me first? I'm surprised you didn't try to convince your 'ally' first instead of the villain," Lex snarked. 

Ollie's lips curled, "You prize your survival and achievements over everything else. It makes it much easier to reason with. Bruce, well, his mission is much harder to deviate him from."

"Should you really be saying that about us both?" Lex commented, finally calming down. 

Ollie stood up, "Why shouldn't I? Now, get off your ass and end this useless war."

Lex glared at him, "You do know I tend to irritate him more? I doubt he would welcome my presence."

Ollie snorted, "He's not going to welcome you, however, you are the only one who can put an end to it. So, fix your mistakes and this really is the last time I get involved in whatever this is between Bruce and you."

"You're not much of a help."

Ollie waved his goodbyes, "I already did enough. It is time you learn to clean up your own messes." With that, he disappeared behind the door.

For a drawn-out moment, Lex glared at the door. Unfortunately, he was not one to procrastinate and Ollie was right: it was time to end this. 

***

(Manor, a few hours later)

 

Alfred had not even blinked at Lex appearing at the front door; he simply invited him in. Maybe it was Lex's paranoia, but he thought the old butler acted more coldly than he had ever seen before even if his face was still as a stoic mask.

"What can I do for you, Mister Luthor?" Not Master Lex, Lex bitterly thought.

Lex removed his drenched coat, "I'd like to see Bruce."

"Take a seat, Mister Luthor, I'll check if he is available."

Lex sat in the living room and looked at the picture of Bruce's parents sending disapproving glares on him. He wanted to chuckle at the madness of this all. Pictures couldn't disapprove of him. 

"He'll see you in the library, Mister Luthor," Alfred interrupted his thought. He didn't even stay to guide him. Not that Lex needed someone to guide him here; the manor had barely changed since the last time he had come here as Bruce's friend more than twenty years ago. 

Lex walked to the library, taking in the new pictures adorning the walls: a picture of Richard Grayson smiling with a younger looking Bruce while doing some strange pose Bruce clearly disapproved of; Jason Todd snuggled up to Bruce and reading the same book over his shoulder; awkward pictures of Bruce and Alfred (probably taken by Timothy Drake); a picture of Tim, Richard and Bruce eating cotton candy at an amusement park; a picture of Damian drawing a picture of his sleeping father; a picture of Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown and Barbara Gordon dolled up and ready to have fun; a picture of Selina Kyle and Bruce quietly holding hands; a picture of Bruce, Alfred, the boys and the girls; a picture of a cheerful looking Clark and cranky looking Bruce eating lunch together...

Lex almost stopped walking to glare at the offending picture. Bruce should have known better. 

Finally, he walked into the library to see Bruce working on some sort of documents-probably from Wayne Entreprises. Even if Bruce's appearance seemed unchanged since the gala in which they had exchanged their first strikes, Lex could read the underlying tension in the man's shoulder and the makeup covered dark shadows under the eyes. 

"Why are you here, Lex."

You couldn't blame Bruce of making small talk. Thank god; Ollie made more than enough for all three of them. 

"To end this."

Bruce looked up from his documents, the wildfire Lex had started at the gala still burning bright in his eyes. 

Lex shifted in place, not wanting to give up his height advantage by sitting. 

"How are you proposing we end this, Lex?" This time, it was asked as a question, not stated. There was a hint of dark pleasure coursing in the voice, something that made Lex's spine tingle with unease and excitement. This changed everything. It meant Lex had been wrong.

It was not Batman. 

Lex studied the not-man, not-vigilante in front of him, trying to figure out whether it was an animal or a monster. Oddly enough, it made him think of the Joker. 

Thankfully, Batman was there and he would not let this...thing kill Lex. As long as Batman existed, Bruce would not kill Lex or anyone else for that matter. 

"I thought Superman had killed this part of you," Lex told the monster sitting down and yet, still looming above. 

Bruce-or whatever this was- tapped a finger after dragging his nail in an oblique manner on the table in the way that meant 'Fool'. 

Lex's nose flared as he never appreciated being called a fool, "Well, what do you think I would think about your triumphant return? Of course, it was the evident conclusion: insane Bruce died to become Batman."

"I never die even if it would have been easier for everyone if I did. That's my curse, Lex," the thing's voice rasped, frowning. 

Lex frowned back, "You are telling me I shouldn't have tested you to see if you had really changed? If you were still this..." he gestured to the figure in front of him.

The figure sighed, "I did change, Lex, that's the thing." 

Lex snorted, "Don't take me for a fool, Bruce or whoever you are right now, I can see the darkness has only grown stronger since the time you slit my throat."

The creature caressed the wood table in a way that said, "Darkness only knows how to grow."

Lex crossed his arms over his chest, "Then, how did you change if the darkness in you only grew?"

The monster whispered, as if he was saying sacrilicious thoughts, "Batman is good. I'm Batman."

Lex shook his head, "I know my basic logic, Bruce. Batman is good. You are Batman. It does not equate that you are good, Bruce. That would be a sophism. We both know you are not just Batman."

The creature studied him in silence.

Lex swallowed and changed the subject, "I saw the pictures in the hall."

The thing's eyes widened at the statement, "You saw..."

Lex narrowed his eyes, "I did. I saw your deepest wish. You want happiness. You want to start the time again. Isn't it time you did so?"

The complicated gestures Bruce then made meant, "You made sure it wouldn't."

"Oh. So, now, it is my fault? Then, here is your father's watch. Take it, I'm giving it back. It is easy to make it work again. Why don't you?" 

Bruce jolted away as if Lex was brandishing a gun, not a harmless watch, "Give it to Alfred."

Lex cocked his head, "I took it from Alfred. Now, take it, and start living your stupid life again."

"Enough!" the creature angrily barked, "Give the watch to Alfred. It will serve as your offering to end this war you started."

Lex narrowed his eyes at the thing in front of him, "You're a coward, Bruce, a real coward. You are so scared of being happy that you decided to let this darkness consume you."

The monster stood motionless, glaring at him, claws ready to tear him apart.

"You and I both know this can't continue," Lex paused, his throat throbbing, "I saw your haunted look in every one of those stupid pictures. You want to be happy nonetheless, you ruin everything by refusing to restart your time. I believe being Batman changed you. I believe your kids have changed you. I believe Selina has changed you. There is nothing stopping you from being truly happy, even if you continue to be Batman." Lex pushed the watch into the thing's chest, "Restart the time." 

The panther-like creature stepped back with useless grace, "No." 

Lex couldn't think of any way to force him to take it and restart it; even were he to throw it, the thing would have let it be destroyed rather than to save it; he would rather let his life get destroyed than to save it. 

"Fine. I'll give it to Alfred. But you should accept it from him," Lex bitterly stated.

The creature looked at him, the fire Lex had started in his eyes were all but extingushed and Lex hated him for that.

"This is stupid," Lex turned about abruptly and went looking for Alfred. He found him in the kitchen and wordlessly gave him the watch. Alfred's gaze softened at the sight.

"Get him to start it again," Lex ordered,"This can't go on and he wants it more than ever."

Alfred's softness retracted and he slowly nodded, "If only that was true, Master Lex."

With that, Lex exited. Their war had come to an end. 

It was only a matter of time before Mercy discovered the 'car' Bruce had stolen from Lex: the car Clark Kent had destroyed to save Lex Luthor a lifetime ago. Somehow, Bruce had known it was Lex's prized possession. Somehow, he had taken it away. 

It was time to revert the status quo. Lex and Bruce were no longer best friends nor each other's personal enemy.


	16. Helena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The expedition in the past comes to a close with a bitter aftertaste. Clark has a lot of questions to ask to some very specific persons...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm late, I know, but next chapter has been waiting in my drafts for months now, so next chapter (who is very short) should be out shortly.

Past.

 

She sat waiting.

She heard Ollie's recriminations from where she was sitting. He was actually trying to cheer Lex up that Bruce was the one in the wrong this time.

It didn't matter to her. It didn't help quell the heaviness in her chest nor make her stop sobbing silently.

She'd never been brave.

She had always chosen the easy path. Except for now.

God, why was it so hard to be brave? Why couldn't she feel at peace with herself?

She trembled. She cried. Nobody heard us. Nobody cared.

***  
More than nineteen years later (or less than a year ago in her life)...

"I have something to ask of you," he had said. "Something only you can achieve."

She had almost dropped her stolen goods. She had stared at him, "You have the wrong person."

"You are the one that can save the world, Helena," the famous man had continued as if she hadn't interfered. His smile was freaky and his arms waved in a grandiose manner.

She had shook at the words. She was small. Insignificant. Unimportant. A speck of dust. She could not even save herself from the smallest gust of wind.

The man had walked closer to her, "You can save the world if you so wish for."

"I'm not Helena! You have the wrong person!" she had yelled in a panic.

He had shook his head, "No, you are Helena and you hold the key to helping Bruce Wayne."

She had stopped backing up at the name. Bruce. She had gaped at the man in front of her, "Bruce Wayne?"

The man had looked at her and it made her skin crawl, "You can go back in time and save the world and Bruce Wayne at the same time."

"What?"

"Do you wish to save Bruce?"

She didn't want to say yes, didn't want to admit any type of weakness in front of this notoriously vicious man, but, she had remembered in great detail the morning Bruce had saved her from her abusive boyfriend, the morning she should have died almost twenty years ago. He had been a kid. Yet, he had saved her.

Her throat had betrayed her by making a strange chortling sound.

"Is that a yes?" the man had asked.

She had closed her eyes. Foolish girl, never close your eyes in front of an enemy! She had opened them just as quickly. For once in her life, she could be good. Courage wasn't her strong suit but, she did have a heart.

"Yes," she had said.

The man had nodded as if she had done exactly as she was supposed to, a puppet in his hands.

"Then, find the item I will describe and go to Gotham. On xx day of this month, wish something while holding the item. When you do, swallow this pill and you will forget this conversation as well as the necessary wish you have made until it is time."

"Time for what?"

The man had then walked out without paying her any heed as if she was a piece of furniture.

***

"Ollie, shut up," the bald boy snapped.

"Really Lex? That's all you got to say?" the blond responded from the half-opened door behind her, "Shouldn't you swear to keep away from Bruce?"

"Shut up," the one they called Lex answered with some bite.

She tried to dry her eyes with her fingers in the quietest fashion. It didn't matter.

For them, she was the background character to their own unfolding drama: Bruce, the one who had once saved her, had used her to test the wish object and to get useful information about the heroes he viewed as foes; the strangers had mostly ignored her, except John, even if she was the threat to their timeline; Lex had tried to wheedle all the information he could about the wish object, and; Ollie had joked around. They were all strangers acting in a play she didn't really understand.

She was inconsequential.

She pressed the object in her palms and wished the tears disappear. She touched her face and was glad to feel the dryness of her skin. That was a good use of her wishes.

Behind her, Ollie shut up and tested Lex's resilience in silence. She suddenly missed the arguing voices. She took a deep breath.

She mouthed, "I'm doing the right thing."

She could remember Lex's blood tainting the bed and Bruce's cold stare. She shuddered. Was she doing the right thing? Maybe she shouldn't have listened to 'his' voice.

The two other strangers from her timeline that had missed the blood-filled scene came in with a banging of the door.

"What happened?" Allen questioned in a hoarse voice. John, her favourite time traveller, looked at her as if he could see through her, "Are you alright, Sophie?"

Allen raised an eyebrow, "Are you talking about Helena?"

"Her name is Sophie," John compassionately informed them.

"What? You know what, whatever. What the hell happened while I was asleep?"

Ollie came over and grimly said, "Bruce just slashed Lex's throat and I left your big guy to keep watch on Bruce while I fix Lex up."

"Uh?" Allen looked thoroughly confused, "Why did Bruce slash Lex's throat?"

Ollie shrugged, "God knows. He does things like that sometimes. This is just the worst I've seen."

"What do you mean, 'he does things like that sometimes.' How often does he lose his f***ing mind over nothing?"

Ollie blinked hard, "I don't keep track of all of his 'insane' act, you know."

Lex retorted, "He's not insane."

Ollie and Allen blinked at him as if he was the one with a few loose bolts.

"You can't seriously mean that, man," Ollie drawled.

"Yeah. I mean, you're an asshole and all, but, slashing your throat open? That's kind of overdoing it," Allen helpfully argued.

Lex ignored him, "You're just too dumb. Now, be a good servant and fetch Bruce and 'Thomas'. It's time to send you all back to your ridiculous timeline."

Allen's mouth opened and the snarky look on his face indicated what he was about to say was nasty, thankfully Ollie once again intervened, "Lex, did you also get a concussion?" His raised eyebrow let informed them he was messing with Lex.

John sent a look Allen's way and it was the other's cue to leave the room.

'Lex' looked through her and she already knew that this timeline's Mr. Luther had already figured her role in this. She squirmed under his gaze.

She didn't like this situation. Experience informed her it was going to get worst.

For a few minutes, Lex was tended in silence. She could feel the storm picking up in his brain, the dangers closing in. In his mind, she was already dead.

"Yo, I herded the sheep here. Can we go home, now? This is starting to feel like a Slasher movie, not a comedy," Allen's fake cheerfulness roused her out of her terror.

Allen, Thomas and Bruce walked in. None of them even looked in her direction.

"Have you figured out how to go back?" Ollie asked, squinting at the trio.

John replied, "I may have a solution." Everyone looked at him.

The quiet man turned to her and asked in a soft tone, "Sophie, did you remember what you wished for?"

She gulped and nodded. 

Bruce's dark understanding gaze fell on her and she felt as hypnotized as she had when she had been twenty-three and dying. She shivered. She had come back to help him because he had saved her, because she thought he was a good man. Now, she wasn't sure if it was such a great idea.

"I..."

For once, they were all looking at her, yet, she couldn't say the words. 

Bruce silently offered her his hand, the same hand he'd use to hold a knife to slash open Lex Luthor's throat, and she held on to it, like the coward she was, to rise to her feet. His fingers tugged at her hand while his damning eyes entreated her to follow him. As unwise as it was, she swallowed her apprehension. Slowly he gently pulled her away from the silent audience and into the grandiose hallway. Nobody followed them as they sat on the outlandishly lime green carpet just outside the room.

For the longest time, neither of them spoke. She leaned back on the wall with her eyes closed and tried to meditate. Soft inhalation, emptying exhalation, both with a focus on her freeing abdomen. "This is life," she self-deprecatingly commented.

She could feel his gaze on her, yet, he let her speak her truth. 

"All my life, I let other people choose for me," she murmured. 

"Do you regret it?" he prodded after some time.

She sighed. Regret. It wasn't the right word for it... 

Letting others choose made it easier to rationalize bad decisions and consequences. It was the cowardly way out. 

"I wanted... to be brave enough to be good," her words sounded brittle; it seemed fitting, considering her soul was in the same state.

"I thought I could do it if it was to thank you for being a hero, my hero." 

She could hear the dangerous teenager shuffling beside her, unsettled by the word. She let him digest it. 

"I am not a hero," he finally stated. 

"You were mine," she simply responded, "I didn't see farther than my idealization of you before I went back in the past..."

"Before I slashed Lex's throat opened," Bruce solemnly clarified. Clever kid, she thought with a ruefulness that wasn't hers to feel.

"It should have made me change wishes..." She added. 

She could feel him tucking his knees under his chin. Strangely enough, that action seemed to help them reach some sort of equilibrium between them and, for the first time since they had met, she felt like the one who was wise while he was still a scared boy underneath his grim world outlook. 

"You didn't," he continued, clearly avoiding to speak about his own wishes. 

"I didn't," she kindly agreed, "I continued to wish the same thing but with renewed interest. Maybe that's the tragedy of being human... We don't wish what's good for us. If there's a God above, he's probably laughing his heads off at our actions."

She didn't add anything. She could feel her body settling in a regular rhythm, her soul aligning with her body for the first time ever and she was grateful she had had this at least. It was easier breathing in and following through her decision.

"This time, it is your choice," he finally muttered. 

"It is."

That was it. She had found peace despite the situation's insanity. 

She opened her eyes to notice the eyes observing her like the teenager had previously looked at his dying friend: interested but cold. It didn't dissuade her. 

"It's time," she nodded. Both rose to their feet and went back to the room with an audience waiting for them. She felt their gaze on them and their questions almost asked out loud. John was the only one who looked upon her with empathy. He really was the nice one, she thought. 

"I now know what my wish is," she announced, "We can leave as soon as you've said your goodbyes."

Allen pumped a fist in the air, "Finally! Let's get out of this dump." 

"Hey, my hospitality isn't that bad," Ollie answered with a lopsided smile. 

She could see, from the edge of her vision, Superman looking at Bruce with obvious hesitation. He gently placed his hand on Bruce's shoulder and the teenager shook him off with a glare. She really didn't know what their deal was, but, it was obvious something about them was off...

Lex Luthor (the past one) was also looking at them with a hardness that betrayed uncharacteristically (from what she had seen) buried feelings.

Allen (or Green Lantern? At least, that's who she thought he was...) offered his hand to Ollie, "Well, thanks for having us, even if your parties and colour palette need more refinement." 

His attempt to ease the tension fell flat as it was increasingly evident Lex was staring directly at Bruce. The younger man unabashedly looked back. 

"Uh, is something wrong, Lex?" Thomas (it felt strange calling Superman by a human name) tried. 

"I want my revenge," Lex claimed as he crossed his arms in front of his body. 

Bruce shrugged as if it didn't affect him, "Okay."

"Okay!?! Please tell me you're not just letting him slash your throat!" Allen exclaimed at the exact moment Thomas held his hands up, "Lex, please don't do something you'll live to regret."

Ollie hit his palm on his forehead before he exclaimed, "Seriously!?! I just told you, Lex, to leave him alone and not let this even more out of hands. As for you, Bruce, f*ck you! You should at least apologize!"

Lex's lips curled in a nasty grin, "Oh, I won't regret it," as he glanced at Superman. 

He took a few steps closer to Bruce until he was almost breathing on him, then, he brought his hands up. His nostril flared as his eyes sparkled with mischief. Everyone, except a nonchalant Bruce and furious looking Lex, seemed frozen in indecision: Lex did deserve some sort of retribution for Bruce's callous act but, how far was too far?

And Lex kissed Bruce on the lips. 

The sky splitting apart wouldn't have struck them dumb as that simple act did, Sophie distantly thought. It was their dramas, not hers. Like the outsider she was, she could see the consternation on Allen's face, the blankness on John's face, the frustration and confusion on Ollie's face and the total disarray on Thomas's face. 

Through it all, she observed the incongruent kiss... It was definitely the most special one she had ever seen. In Lex's demeanour, there was competitiveness, love, jealousy and something like tenderness. 

The kiss only really turned dark when Bruce kissed back. If the kiss had had a nasty aftertaste before, now, it was the deeply ingrained defensive mechanism of a feral beast pounding on his aggressor; a competitor's ruthlessness on the last leg of a game; a means of control and revenge; a calculated move of disdain and ice cold ravaging passion. Even though Bruce was the smaller and leaner of the two, he was the one who ultimately took control of the mutual action, dominating him with his strong hands, his treacherous lips, tongue and... his teeth. It came to Sophie's attention, there were drops of blood falling on Ollie's expensive carpet. She didn't know who had bitten the other, yet, she was under the very clear impression it was Bruce. 

When they finally separated from one another, Bruce's chilly expression sent shivers down Sophie's spine, especially considering she had come back in time to save this man. 

Lex wiped his mouth in a deliberate move and smiled in satisfaction, "Well, I guess this concludes our dealings with one another." 

Bruce nodded, in the same type of secret communication that had been the staple of their interactions up to then. 

Then, as if the kissing spell had come to an end, Ollie exploded, "What the heck is wrong with you both! Lex, I specifically told you to leave him alone-he just cut your throat open!- and, as for you, Bruce, I don't even know how you escaped from Arkham Asylum's control but you really belong there!" 

Bruce and Lex stared, their breathing finally returning to usual, at one another while Allen's consternation had turned to a quite vivid horrified and disgusted-stricken expression while Thomas seemed to be frozen in his previous expression of disarray. 

"Can we go back to our timeline now?" John gently proposed. 

Ollie waved energetically at the tableau: "Please go! I really can't handle anymore of this craziness."

John turned in Sophie's direction and Allen snapped out of his torpor with incoherent babbling, "What the FUCK? I mean, don't send me any invites to your marriage. I still have this kiss to bleach from my memory... Excuse me while I purge this sweet romantic atmosphere from my body." 

Clark blinked at Hal's out of control diatribes and openly stared at Bruce and Lex still looking at one another in some sort of silent conversation. Clark understood why his timeline's Ollie had talked about the trauma (or why he needed extensive therapy) of Bruce's kissing a man and he understood why his timeline's Ollie had told him it was in high school, not in University, apparently, he didn't want to give a heads up.

The reporter had thought, too often, in this timeline that Lex's and Bruce's silent communication was proof of some strange closeness. He hadn't wanted to think they were both... attracted to one another. Why else had Lex kissed Bruce after the man had cut his throat open?

His head whipped up at Helena's answer to John: "I have the wish object in my hands. Now, I just need Bruce to come here and we can stop the wish for the world's destruction."

Bruce tore his gaze from Lex and silently walked up to her. Lex smirked. Clark had to keep his temper from burning the man to smithereens. He had kissed Bruce...

Bruce took Sophie proffered hand and both looked at the wish object's arcane characters. Sophie glanced at the room and Clark noted her weariness and, strangely enough, a quiet determination she hadn't shown prior to this moment. 

"I wish," she started, "I wish Bruce Wayne would stop me from destroying the world." 

Clark's mind went into full gear and things fell into their rightful places: this certainly explained why they had come to this timeline (since this was the Bruce Wayne that had helped her out) or why they had felt the threat to the world even though nothing was being destroyed. It was a strange and paradoxical wish. It meant the woman hadn't really wished for the world's destruction, that it wouldn't happen because Bruce was already supposed to stop it in virtue of the wish. In a way, Hal, J'onn and himself had gone back in time for nought. 

Bruce's mouth set in a hard unwilling line. Helena (or Sophie? What was up with the names?) asked, "Why are you hesitating?"

"Why would you wish for that?" The boy (because at that moment, he looked much younger than an adult) muttered.

Her expression softened and she cited, "'Strenght comes from an indomitable will.' I do not have that indomitable will, but you do. I need your help."

Bruce's eyes glazed over her, "I'm not a hero."

Helena shook her head, "You saved me yesterday, you can save the world today."

"I don't want it saved." 

Clark gulped. Less than an hour ago, he had tried to convince Bruce he was good. He needed to accomplish it now; that was why they had gone back in time. 

Clark pressed his hand on Bruce's shoulder and didn't let him shake him off as he gently forced him to face him. He recalled all of future Batman's and future Bruce's achievements and pushed in the back of his mind all of this timeline's dubious actions to declare, "Bruce, you are good." 

This time, he saw the hint of doubt infected Bruce's cocksure composure. For a moment, Bruce actually listened to Clark's certainty and believed it. Clark released his grip on Bruce's shoulder.

But, the moment passed and he could sense Bruce's instant denial in all of his body language. His eyes narrowed at him, "I am not. But if this is what I need to do to send you back to your government-approved organization, I'll do it."

The teenager's head whipped to Sophie's, "I'll save your world if you let me do it."

She nodded, "It is a bad world, full of evil intentions and terrible events."

"I agree," Bruce deadpanned. Hey, Clark wanted to sigh, you have to convince her not to destroy it! Why does it seem you are encouraging her to do it?

"It is hard and painful," her voice cracked in pain.

"Yes," Bruce agreed unsympathetically.

"I never seem to be as good as I should be," there was a deep disappointment in the tremors of the voice.

"You don't need to be good, Helena. You need to be yourself," Bruce exasperatedly told her.

"Even if I'm a terrible human being?" 

Bruce gripped her hand reassuringly, "You're a human being in all its complexities. That, in itself, is a celebration of life."

"You saved me yesterday for you and twenty years ago for me. I haven't done anything worth it with my life. Shouldn't I have died earlier just to avoid the pain, suffering and disappointment?"

"I saved your life because I'm selfish. Don't attach more meaning than that to it. You get to waste your life away if you want. I really do not care either way." Again, Clark wanted to shake him out of the clear disinterest piercing through his voice. 

She looked lost and, at that moment, Clark pitied her and her inoffensive sadness, especially confronted by this timeline Bruce's blatant indifference. 

"But you seem to value life," Bruce noted. 

"I do."

"In that case, it is frankly ridiculous to destroy it." Even Hal flinched at the nastiness of Bruce's tone. 

Helena smiled with happiness, "Thanks, Bruce." He didn't even respond. 

Helena released his hand and J'onn moved forward, "Thank you, Sophie and Bruce. The wish-curse has been removed. I believe it is time we went home."

Clark said more genial goodbyes at Ollie and, under Lex's gaze, tried to talk to Bruce. Unfortunately, the teenager clearly avoided him. Lex's maddening grin drove Clark angrier and he went to J'onn's side. The Martian gave him a warning glance while Hal approached their group, "Let's get going." 

Helena nodded and used the wishing object. Around them, the timeline faded, although the three humans in very different corners of the room were still visible when Helena disintegrated into a dust-like material with one last sad smile. 

J'onn, Hal and Superman appeared in the Watchtower. Wonder Woman spun on the defensive before she relaxed her stance, "You're back?"

Hal stretched his back, "Yeah, I hope you were crazy busy when we were away, 'cause this has been a terrible ride."

"How long were we away?" Superman asked her. 

"A week, I think. We were starting to ready a rescue mission. Did you catch the villain?"

"She became dust on our trip back and that was the most normal part of our mission if you can imagine it," Hal complained. 

"Why did she disappear?"

"The wishing object used the energy of the person wishing to power its use," J'onn explained, "She died and the wishing object was lost in time somewhere before our arrival. She was such a pitiful girl."

"We need to find such a dangerous artifact and stop it from falling into the wrong hands," Diana declared.

"It won't," Superman cut in, "It's stuck in a time-loop. Helena-the villain- picks it up a bit earlier in this timeline, goes back to the past and dies coming back with the artifact lost for her younger-future self to find it."

"I don't know how Flash always does time-travel," Hal sighed, "It messes with my head... Talking about messing with my head, what the hell was Batman's problem?" 

Diana pursed her lips in amusement, "Which problem? At least, his and Lex's fight came to a close."

Superman felt his eyes widen at the statement. Right, in this timeline, Bruce and Lex had started a fight because of Lex mentioning the kiss Superman, Hal and J'onn had just witnessed twenty years in the past. That meant... Lex, Ollie and Bruce probably knew of his secret identity since the beginning. And... there was the Bruce stabbing (and kissing) Lex incidents that had to be addressed... Superman had gone in the past trying to get answers about Bruce's past and had come back with more questions than answers. 

Diana communicated with the rest of the League and Ollie (for some reason) to let them know the status of Hal, J'onn and Clark. 

Superman closed his eyes, exhaled and opened his eyes again. "I have to go." 

J'onn gave him a worried look while Hal nodded, "Yeah, I'm going to buy some bleach, too." Diana looked puzzled by his behaviour as he flew away to be zeta-beamed to Earth. 

It was way past time for answers, he thought as he gritted his teeth in impatience. 

He heard someone calling his name. Fine, Superman thought, I'll deal with him first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wanted to call this chapter: "The One Who Didn't Matter", because, for being the one responsible for all the mayhem, Helena (Sophie) didn't matter at all.
> 
> On another note, Ollie is not homophobe; he just knows how twisted Lex's and Bruce's games have become. Lex might genuinely love and care for Bruce like a brother, he also has a lot of unhealthy competiveness and dark fascination with him. Past Bruce, on the other hand, uses Lex to further his goals and his appreciation for the man's competence is the closest he probably feels to having a colleague in that timeline. Oh, and Lex is very attracted (or obsessed with) to Superman who clearly favours Bruce...
> 
> In case this wasn't clear, this chapter is the reason why I had included the tags Bruce Wayne/Lex Luthor(?) in the work.


	17. Final Confrontations, Part 1/3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver warns Superman.

"So, you are back", Oliver commented in his League's ally's comm to Superman. He knew he not one of the ones Superman was trying to speak to.

"Yes, I am. Where do you want to meet?"

"Meet me where I am", Oliver replied. Before he had even finished his sentence, Superman was facing him on the empty rooftop in Star City. How often had Superman confronted Bruce on Gotham's rooftop or Lex in his Lex tower? Though the meetings had to have been quite different back then...

Oliver knew he was not exactly in a defensive stance but neither was he at rest. He stood tall and unbowed, strength and determination in his face. Ollie was not Batman. He had not constructed walls upon walls of indecipherable defences hiding his emotions and true self. Neither was he Lex, taunting intellects hiding his true emotions and self behind artifices. Ollie knew he was easier to deal with and he could never hurt Superman as profoundly as either of his former friends could.

"Why did you call me, Ollie?"

Ollie slowly scanned him before answering: "I wanted to let you know I stopped the war between them".

"How did you manage it?", a frankly curious Superman asked.

Ollie stayed quiet, eyes still fixed on Superman and he shrugged as if it did not matter. Maybe it didn't since Superman would not be able to use the same technique. Superman knew Ollie had not only called him to tell him about the war, so he seemed to be waiting patiently for Ollie's speech.

Finally, Ollie sighed and stated, "Don't see either of them for a while". The Man of Steel didn't seem surprised at the request; hadn't Ollie asked the very same thing at the start of the Bruce-Lex war? Even then, Superman hadn't listened to him.

"Why?"

Ollie stared at him, "You know them enough to know why. They will hurt you. Lex will talk and hurt you with words. Bruce won't and it will hurt you worse. You think nobody of the League sees the difference with you after you deal with either of them?"

"Why say that now ?"

Ollie struggled with some thoughts, "Well, the trip to the past has upset you, that is clear to see. And they are both emotionally wounded. It is not a good time to see either of them, but especially not Lex."

"Didn't you say Bruce would hurt more?"

"Yes. Bruce always hurts you more than Lex. Anyhow, Lex's words have the power to seep in your brain and disturb you longer", Oliver declared stoically. He hadn't wanted to be the oracle sent to advise Superman to avoid doing what both of them know he will do regardless. Since the beginning of the conversation, it was clear both men knew this is a formality: the warning of the old wise man in a horror movie. It was destined to fail.

"Thank you, Ollie, for the warning. Thank you for stopping them".

At those words, Superman flew away. Oliver thought he heard the Man of Steel whisper at the end, "Now and then".

Oliver sighed again, put one hand to his forehead and spoke to the rooftop in a defeated tone, "I can't even stop him. Some hero, I am..."

Dinah appeared behind him and walked up to hug him reassuringly, "Some men don't want to be saved. You did all you could, Ollie, that is all we can ever do..."

Oliver put one hand on the arms hugging him from behind, "I hate being helpless."

"I know," Dinah quietly answered, "You did well with Lex and Bruce. I think it's time to go back to our lives..."

Oliver kissed her on the cheek and smiled, "I thought you would never ask..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, when I thought of the plot of this story, I knew the story line had to end with confrontations between Lex and Clark; and Bruce and Clark. I wasn't going to put Ollie in it because, contrary to Lex and Bruce, he is not, in any way, Clark's antagonist. 
> 
> However, when I started writing the next chapter (and confrontation) a few months ago, I figured out Ollie, Lex and Bruce were presented as a trio in both the past and the present and it felt off not to include anything about Ollie. That's how this chapter came in existence... You can also note Ollie gets a (mostly) happy ending because he deserves it (he puts up with a lot of things in the Lex-Bruce-Clark conflicts).


End file.
